Lower costs spur McKesson

Article Excerpt

MCKESSON CORP. $189 is a buy for aggressive investors. The company (New York symbol MCK; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares o/s: 158.2 million; Market cap: $29.9 billion; P-to-S ratio: 0.1; Divd. yield 0.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.mckesson.com) is the largest wholesale drug distributor in the U.S. and Canada. It also operates drugstores in Europe and North America. McKesson is a leading U.S. distributor of COVID-19 vaccines and testing kits. Strong demand for those products helped offset weaker demand for the company’s international businesses, which is why overall revenue in the fiscal 2021 fourth quarter, ended March 31, 2021, rose just 1.0%, to $59.14 billion from $58.54 billion a year earlier. Thanks to the company’s now-completed restructuring, which has cut $400 million in annual costs, McKesson’s earnings in the quarter rose 8.7%, to $810 million from $745 million. Due to fewer shares outstanding, per-share earnings jumped 18.3%, to $5.05 from $4.27. McKesson now expects to earn $18.85 to $19.45 a share…