NEW YORK (Standard&Poor's) Dec. 16, 2014—Standard&Poor's Ratings Services noted today CVS Health Corp.'s announcement that it authorized a new $10 billion share buyback authorization program and a 27% dividend increase. We expect CVS to continue generating healthy levels of cash flow and maintain its debt leverage in the mid-2x area. We anticipate strong performance gains during 2015 driven by generic introductions (mainly in the back half of 2015), strong performance of its PBM segment, benefits from Red Oak sourcing, and growth in specialty segment offset modestly by exit of tobacco category. At this time, our ratings on CVS (BBB+/Stable/A-2) remain unchanged.
