Vitaliy Katsenelson Contrarian Edge » CVS http://ContrarianEdge.com Vitaliy Katsenelson blog on the economy, stock market, and stocks. Applying Active Value Investing approach. Tue, 15 May 2012 20:01:12 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Excited… Synergy… CVS/Caremark http://ContrarianEdge.com/2006/11/03/excited-synergy-cvscaremark/ http://ContrarianEdge.com/2006/11/03/excited-synergy-cvscaremark/#comments Fri, 03 Nov 2006 15:49:24 +0000 Vitaliy Katsenelson http://ContrarianEdge.com/?p=130 “My apologies for the silence over the last month, but I am in the final stages of completing my book and there is just not enough time in the day to juggle investing, teaching, book writing and coming up with insights worth sharing.

I am trying to make up my mind about the CVS (CVS) – Caremark (CMX) deal. So far I have more questions than answers. In general I am not crazy about acquisitions of this magnitude as the integration risk is too high. But I am giving CVS the benefit of the doubt, at least for now, as it has done a great job with acquisitions in the past.  (A factoid from the CVS/Caremark conference call: Management mentioned “excited” nine times, “synergy” six times.)

]]> http://ContrarianEdge.com/2006/11/03/excited-synergy-cvscaremark/feed/ 0 Need I say more? http://ContrarianEdge.com/2006/09/25/need-i-say-more/ http://ContrarianEdge.com/2006/09/25/need-i-say-more/#comments Mon, 25 Sep 2006 22:36:00 +0000 Vitaliy Katsenelson http://rangebound.com/?p=107 Walgreens (WAG) comments on Wal-Mart (WMT) “will put them out of business strategy” on the company conference call:

  • For the 291 drugs that Wal-Mart will sell for $4, the average co-pay at Walgreens is $5.30 and for Medicare Part D patients it’s only $3.18.
  • Wal-Mart’s program covers less than 300 generic medications while Walgreens pharmacies’ stock has about 1800 different generics.
  • Over the years, WAG’s convenience, locations, and services have proven to be bigger factors for its patients than a few dollars in price difference – the point I argued in this article. 

    Need I say more?

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