This post is part of our Battle of the Brands feature. Let us know which brand you prefer, and check out other Battle of the Brands posts.
CVS Caremark Corp (NYSE: CVS) -- with 6,200 stores and a pharmacy benefits management division -- beats Walgreen Co. (NYSE: WAG) -- with 5,997 stores -- hands down in the battle of the brands. It's bigger, its earnings are growing faster, it has a higher P/E and its stock has grown faster over the last year and five years. Walgreen wins on one measure: it has a fatter profit margin.
Here's how the two score on these measures:
- Revenues. $76 billion (CVS) beats $54 billion (Walgreens)
- Earnings growth. 12% (CVS) beats 6% (Walgreens)
- Profit margins. 3.8% (Walgreens) beats 3.45% (CVS)
- P/E. 21.3 (CVS) beats 17 (Walgreens)
- One year stock performance.+16% (CVS) beats -22% (Walgreens)
- Five year stock performance. +250% (CVS) beats +16% (Walgreens)
Peter Cohan is President of Peter S. Cohan & Associates. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter
Vote in our poll for CVS or Walgreens as your preferred brand, and let us know in the comments why you love it.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
4-29-2008 @ 2:26PM
L.D. Bellotte said...
I prefer Walgreens, as the have a more instore selection of items. Also you don't have a time limit as to when you have to pick up a Rx. They are opened 24/7. Sometimes one cannot make it before 9:00 pm or whenever a pharmacy closes.
5-01-2008 @ 8:53AM
Justin said...
I dont know where your from but in the Northeast, 35% of the pharmacies are open 24 hrs, and the remaining open at 7 or 8 and closes at 10 - midnight depending on how busy the area is. And alot of the Walgreens up in the Northeast that i've seen are not 24 hrs, but their are def. more 24 hrs stores than CVS up here.
5-02-2008 @ 10:01PM
Bobby said...
I prefer Walgreens as well. Perhaps it's because they're relatively new in our area. The stores are cleaner, more sales that relate to me & product selection.
I'm surprised of yr. over yr. earnings for the 2 companies being CVS in strong positive territory & WG's being the complete opposite negatively. It would have been nice for the article to express why that was so. Surely WG had to have some heavy charge offs but for what reason?
5-03-2008 @ 1:49AM
Jordan said...
Here in florida CVS beats out Walgreens 3 to 1 there stores are newer, and nicer. Walgreens is an old outdated company with plan stores pack to the rim with junk like a dollar tree. It's funny walgreens is over 100 years old and CVS is alittle over 40 yet CVS is beating the crap out of Walgreens! CVS is the best
5-03-2008 @ 4:46AM
sitruc said...
These battle of the brands are pretty worthless. Why not go a little deeper into the differences and the markets?
5-03-2008 @ 7:21PM
Walterene said...
I have shopped at Walgreens most of my life that's all there was in Chicago. When I moved to Los Angeles I started to shop at Savon which has now changed to CVS. I really don't like CVS I don't like the way the store is set up & there choices are limited. Walgreens reminds me of Savon & I love it.
5-03-2008 @ 11:32PM
carey said...
cvs may not have the nicest looking stores, but the customer service makes up for it. walgreens, what customer service?
cvs also has that instant coupon after purchase on select items, that's great. What does walgreens have, cut out of ad coupons?