CVS will hire 15,000 employees, including over 10,000 licensed pharmacy technicians, for the winter season
The shares of CVS Health Corp (NYSE:CVS) are up 0.3% at $59.75, after the pharmaceutical company announced it would hire 15,000 new employees in preparation for a surge in COVID-19 and flu cases during the fall and winter seasons. Over 10,000 of those hired will be full-time and part-time licensed pharmacy technicians who will help dispense medication and administer coronavirus tests.
Today's announcement has CVS making another run at its 50-day moving average, which has served as a ceiling on the charts since late-August, when the equity went into selloff mode. While the $56 mark saved CVS from collapsing back into its mid-March trough, the stock is still off roughly 19% for the year.
The majority of analysts covering the security are in favor of the equity. Twelve of those in coverage call it a "buy" or better, compared to four calling it a "hold" or worse. Meanwhile, the 12-month consensus price target of $78.76 is a 31.5% premium to current levels.
Short sellers, however, have been coming around to the security. Short interest rose 5.5% in the last reporting period. Despite this uptick, the 19.92 million shares sold short make up just 1.5% of the security's available float, or nearly three days at its average pace of trading.