CVS One of the Best-Positioned Retail Growth Companies

5/2 - "Chief Financial Officer David Rickard noted on the conference call that consumers may be hesitating to buy large-ticket discretionary items, but small-ticket items like Snickers bars still are finding their way into shopping baskets. Of course, front-end (retail) items only make up about 15% of revenue for CVS, but they are an important driver of transaction size and overall profitability."

"Management is also touting its success with in-store MinuteClinics, serving 300,000 customers this past quarter. At 510 clinics in operation, that works out to 6.5 customers a day, which doesn't sound like droves to me. But CVS has a significant "first mover" advantage over Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) and Walgreen (NYSE: WAG) in this new venture."

"Overall, I continue to see CVS as one of the best-positioned retail growth companies. Selling at 21 times its trailing earnings, the stock is priced at a premium compared to the rest of the field...But CVS looks like a solid choice to me at this point."