CVS Stock Is Rising. A Wall Street Upgrade Helps Keep the Momentum Going.

Analysts at Baird Equity Research upgraded the stock to Outperform from Neutral. (Photograph by Alastair Pike/AFP/Getty Images)

Shares of CVS Health were rising Thursday after the company notched an upgrade on Wall Street as it continues a monthslong bull run.

Analysts at Baird upgraded the stock to Outperform from Neutral and lifted their target to $82 from $71. The firm has growing confidence in the turnaround story of CVS’s health insurance business.

CVS stock was up 1.1% in early Thursday. The was down 0.4%.

CVS shares fell 57% from the start of 2022 through the end of 2024, but the company has been an unexpected stock market darling in 2025. The stock was up 47% as of Wednesday’s close on the back of strong quarterly earnings and improved full-year guidance. Baird believes the rebound is real.

Strength in the company’s healthcare benefits division, which includes insurance company Aetna, is the main reason for optimism. The company is exiting the difficult healthcare insurance exchange business, Baird noted, and its Medicare Advantage business seems to be on more solid footing.

The healthcare benefits division reported higher revenue and adjusted earnings than expected in the second quarter.

Baird moved CVS up to the second slot in its rankings of the stocks of managed-care organizations, leaving it behind only Alignment Healthcare . The firm raised its forecast for CVS’s 2025 adjusted earnings to $6.34 a share from $6.01, and lifted its 2026 estimate to $7.15 a share from $6.99.

Write to Nate Wolf at nate.wolf@barrons.com