"Most investors wouldn't give a fund described as 'relatively prosaic, dull, conservative' a second glance; that, however, is exactly how John Neff described the Windsor Fund that he headed for more than three decades," notes John Reese, an advisor who models specific portfolios designed around the stated investing strategies of many of the stock market's most legendary investors.

In his Validea newsletter, Reese explains, "And, while his style may not have been flashy or eye-catching, the returns he generated for clients were dazzling -- so dazzling that Neff's track record may be the greatest ever for a mutual fund manager.

"Over his 31-year tenure (1964-1995), Windsor averaged a 13.7 percent annual return, beating the market by an average of 3.1 percent per year.

CVS Caremark (CVS) has received notice from Walgreen (WAG) that the latter would not participate as a provider in any new prescription drug plans awarded to CVS's pharmacy benefit manager after June 7.

Walgreen feels that it's no longer "in the best interests of its customers, pharmacists and shareholders to grow its future business" with CVS. Any current CVS plans in which Walgreen is already a service provider will not be impacted.

CVS Caremark (CVS), a drugstore chain that competes with Rite-Aid Corporation (RAD), Walgreen Company (WAG), and Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (WMT), is acting in a boring way this afternoon. My screen shows, at the time of this writing, the stock down 44 cents, or 1.2%, to $36.64.

That's not too bad for the kind of trading session we're having. I bet CVS would have been up today following its Q1 report had the market action been different. But the tape is the tape, you can do nothing about that. According to Bloomberg BusinessWeek, the company made, on an adjusted basis, 60 cents per share, which was two pennies ahead of estimates.

Rite Aid (RAD) continues to be a stock that I want to avoid. I know it's risen a lot over the last year, but such price action doesn't sway me in this case.

You've got to be careful when a company reports a loss, even if that loss is narrower than what was reported in the comparable period. In the fiscal fourth quarter, Rite Aid lost 24 cents per share. Last year at this time, the red ink came out to $2.67 per share. Yes, this is a vast improvement; same thing happened in the third quarter back in December of last year.

Walgreen Company (WAG), a drugstore entity whose major competitors are CVS Caremark (CVS), Rite Aid (RAD), and Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (WMT), reported second-quarter data earlier today; they weren't too thrilling, to be completely honest.

On a reported basis, net income increased three pennies to 68 cents per share. On an adjusted basis, earnings came out to 70 cents per share (this would be after adding back the two pennies dedicated to restructuring charges). Estimates called for 71 cents per share. Poor Walgreen just couldn't keep up with the analysts this time around.

Here are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage on BloggingStocks:

• Activision Blizzard Inc. (ATVI) reported better-than-expected Q4 earnings and declared an annual dividend.
• Allstate Corp. (ALL) swung to better-than-expected Q4 earnings and also swung to a full-year profit.
• Buffalo Wild Wings Inc. (BWLD) shares tumbled after it posted disappointing earnings tied to costs.
• The Cheesecake Factory Inc. (CAKE) posted better-than-expected Q4 earnings but sales were flat.
• Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (CMG) earnings numbers for Q4 resulted in upgrades from two analysts.
• CVS Caremark Corp. (CVS) higher Q4 earnings matched the expectations of analysts, and shares rose.

CVS Caremark (CVS), which competes with Walgreen (WAG), Rite Aid (RAD), and Wal-Mart (WMT), posted fourth-quarter data on Monday. Sales increased 7%, and adjusted earnings per share from continuing operations (excluding, in addition, a penny per share relating to a tax benefit) came in at 78 cents -- good for a growth rate of over 11%. That bottom-line performance matched analyst projections, according to our earnings preview.

As we all know, matching expectations is sometimes the death of a stock. The market has no conscience when it comes to mercilessly punishing an equity for not going beyond the call of the analysts. However, CVS actually did pretty well yesterday, rising 5% by the end of the session; the move was backed by healthy volume.

CVS Caremark Corp. (CVS), the largest retail pharmacy chain in the U.S., is scheduled to discuss its fourth-quarter financial results in a conference call Monday, Feb. 8, at 8:30 AM (ET). An audio webcast of the call will be available at the company's website.

During the three months that ended in December, CVS announced share buybacks, named a new head of HR and provided H1N1 flu shots nationwide. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters are looking for earnings for that period of $0.78 per share. That compares with $0.65 per share in the previous quarter and $0.70 per share a year ago. Revenue for the fourth quarter is expected to be 8.6% higher than a year ago to $26.2 billion.

I'm reiterating my buy ratings the nation's two premier drug store chains: CVS Caremark (CVS), first recommended on February 16, 2009, at a price of $27.30; and Walgreen (WAG), first recommended on February 17, 2009, at a price of $25.46. If you bought CVS in February, you're up 25%; WAG, up about 40%.

As expected, each has performed well on increased store traffic stemming from the H1N1 flu virus (trips to purchase hand sanitizers, other disinfecting items, and flu symptom comforts), which has offset reduced traffic for other drug store trips, due to the U.S. recession.

Walgreen (WAG), a drugstore chain that competes with CVS Caremark (CVS) and Rite Aid (RAD), issued fiscal Q1 numbers on Monday. The growth rates were impressive.

Total sales were up 9.5%. Net income increased almost 20% to 49 cents per diluted share. Operational cash flow was higher by over three times. According to our earnings preview, analysts were expecting 48 cents per share. Of course, since there were restructuring charges included in the above per-share profit stat (equal to 3 cents per share), the beat is better than it looks. This was indeed a good quarter.

Rite Aid (RAD), whose colleagues include CVS Caremark (CVS) and Walgreen (WAG), reported third-quarter results on Thursday. Although they did show improvement, I think most investors would be better off staying away from the stock.

According to this summary at Reuters, top-line sales decreased a little under 2%, and the loss per share came in at 10 cents. This was a lot better than the 30 cents per share lost in the comparable quarter. Expectations were for the red ink to be closer to 18 cents per share.

CVS|Caremark (CVS - option chain) shares are rising today on news that the company won a new $1 billion contract with the Teacher Retirement System of Texas to provide pharmacy benefits for two years, with four optional one-year renewals. If you think that the stock won't fall by too much in the coming months, then now could be a good time to look at a bullish hedged trade on CVS.

CVS opened this morning at $31.80. So far today the stock has hit a low of $31.80 and a high of $32.43. As of 11:55, CVS is trading at $32.20 up 70 cents (2.2%). The chart for CVS looks bullish and S&P gives CVS a positive 4 STARS (out of 5) buy ranking.

Walgreen Co. NYSE: WAG), the the nation's largest drugstore chain, is scheduled to discuss its fiscal fourth quarter 2009 results Tuesday in a conference call at 7:30 AM ET. You can catch the live webcast of the call on the company's website.

The Deerfield, Ill.-based pharmacy giant appointed a new treasurer and also increased its quarterly dividend during the three months that ended in August. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expect Walgreen to report that net income for that period fell 13.3% from a year ago to 39 cents per share. However, revenue for the quarter is expected to be 7.4% higher to $15.7 billion.

"CVS Caremark (NYSE: CVS), the nation's largest U.S. drugstore chain, remains a buy in our model growth portfolio," says Stephen Leeb.

In his The Complete Investor, he explains, "Business at CVS has been resilient. In the second quarter, revenue growth was up 22% for its pharmacy benefits management (PBM) business and 17% for retail operations.

"Total sales, almost evenly divided between the two segments, rose 18% to $24.9 billion. Earnings of $886.5 million, or 60 cents a share, were 13% higher than in the year-earlier period and beat consensus estimates by a penny.

"Regardless of how you analyze the company, CVS Caremark (NYSE: CVS) stands out," says Chuck Carlson.

In The DRIP Investor, he explains, "Our Quadrix stock-rating system ranks more than 4,000 stocks based on more than 100 different variables. CVS scores better than 90% of the stocks in the Quadrix universe."

"CVS's Sector score -- that is, a score devised by evaluating the metrics that have the most influence over performance in that particular sector -- is also impressive at 95 out of a possible 100.