CVS vs CI Stock Comparison: AI Score, Valuation, Performance and Upside
CVS Health and Cigna are both diversified health services companies combining insurance and pharmacy benefits management, but CVS Health additionally operates an extensive retail pharmacy footprint and growing healthcare delivery services, while Cigna concentrates more on its Evernorth pharmacy and specialty services alongside its health insurance business.
CVS Health offers a vertically integrated model spanning retail pharmacy, pharmacy benefits, and insurance, while Cigna offers a more focused combination of health insurance and Evernorth pharmacy and specialty services. Consider whether you prefer CVS Health's broader vertical integration or Cigna's more concentrated services model.
CI holds the edge across 3 of 5 key metrics in this comparison. CVS has delivered stronger 1-year price return (+16.53% vs +14.24%), though CI has the better forward P/E setup (8.33x vs 10.94x for CVS). On fundamentals, CVS is growing revenue faster (7.10%), while CI maintains the higher operating margin (3.98%) — a classic growth-versus-profitability split. Analyst consensus implies similar upside for both: +24.74% for CVS and +22.42% for CI.
Human Wall Street analysts' price targets, typically implying a ~12-month view — a separate signal from this site's own AI Prediction Signal further down the page, which is a 5-/30-day machine-learning forecast based on price history alone.
- Want exposure to a vertically integrated model combining retail pharmacy, pharmacy benefits management, and health insurance
- Value the extensive retail pharmacy footprint as a broad consumer access point
- Believe continued integration across the combined businesses will unlock long-term value
- Are comfortable with near-term health insurance margin pressure from elevated medical cost trends
- Prefer a more focused combination of health insurance and Evernorth pharmacy and specialty services
- Believe continued Evernorth growth will provide diversified, services-oriented revenue
- Value a segment structure balancing insurance underwriting with services revenue
- Are comfortable with medical cost trend sensitivity within the insurance segment
| Metric | CVS | CI |
|---|---|---|
| AI scorei | 42.9 | 43.7 |
| AI ranki | #912 | #314 |
| Latest closei | $91.41 | $295.44 |
| 1M returni | +5.73% | +9.21% |
| 3M returni | -12.46% | +7.81% |
| 6M returni | +13.29% | +7.18% |
| 1Y returni | +16.53% | +14.24% |
How much would $10,000 be worth today if invested at the start of each period, with all dividends reinvested?
| Period | CVS | CI |
|---|---|---|
| 1Y ago | $11.71K (+17.1%) started 2025-11-04 | $11.16K (+11.6%) started 2025-11-04 |
| 5Y ago | $12.42K (+24.2%) started 2021-11-05 | $15.61K (+56.1%) started 2021-11-05 |
| 10Y ago | $19.18K (+91.8%) started 2016-11-07 | $27.24K (+172.4%) started 2016-11-07 |
Hypothetical — past performance does not guarantee future results.
| Metric | CVS | CI |
|---|---|---|
| Market capi | $119.02B | $73.69B |
| Trailing P/Ei | 24.55 | 11.53 |
| Forward P/Ei | 10.94 | 8.33 |
| Price/Salesi | N/A | N/A |
| EV/Revenuei | 0.44 | 0.35 |
| Analyst targeti | $116.08 | $341.42 |
| Target upsidei | +24.74% | +22.42% |
| Metric | CVS | CI |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue growthi | 7.10% | 6.70% |
| Earnings growthi | 188.80% | 10.20% |
| EPS growthi | +188.80% | +10.20% |
| FCF margini | +1.96% | +2.83% |
| Operating margini | 3.86% | 3.98% |
| Profit margini | 1.18% | 2.27% |
| ROIC proxyi | 6.21% | 16.76% |
| Return on equityi | 6.21% | 16.76% |
| Dividend yieldi | 2.86% | 2.24% |
| Payout ratioi | 70.00% | 25.38% |
| Dividend growth streaki | No increase yet | No increase yet |
| Betai | 0.60 | 0.32 |
| Debt/equityi | 95.50 | 74.29 |
| Current ratioi | 0.87 | 0.85 |
| Quick ratioi | 0.62 | 0.69 |
Over the past year, CVS and CI have moved moderately in the same direction (correlation of 0.55), based on daily returns.
Lower drawdown and smaller single-period drops generally indicate a smoother ride, though they do not guarantee lower future risk.
| Period | Metric | CVS | CI |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1Y | Growthi | +17.07% | +11.63% |
| CAGRi | +17.10% | +11.65% | |
| Volatilityi | 31.21% | 26.89% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.53 | 0.38 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 0.74 | 0.56 | |
| Max drawdowni | 23.10% | 12.81% | |
| Current drawdowni | 17.35% | 6.47% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 7.56% | 5.08% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 10.10% | 6.13% | |
| Max daily dropi | 14.15% | 4.70% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 10.46% | 8.97% | |
| 5Y | Growthi | +9.68% | +46.62% |
| CAGRi | +1.87% | +7.96% | |
| Volatilityi | 30.35% | 28.45% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.07 | 0.26 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 0.09 | 0.35 | |
| Max drawdowni | 56.79% | 32.77% | |
| Current drawdowni | 17.35% | 18.73% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 24.56% | 12.47% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 28.16% | 15.21% | |
| Max daily dropi | 16.84% | 17.39% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 20.15% | 19.01% | |
| 10Y | Growthi | +42.40% | +152.11% |
| CAGRi | +3.60% | +9.70% | |
| Volatilityi | 29.54% | 30.74% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.12 | 0.31 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 0.16 | 0.44 | |
| Max drawdowni | 56.79% | 42.47% | |
| Current drawdowni | 17.35% | 18.73% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 18.93% | 13.37% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 23.02% | 16.37% | |
| Max daily dropi | 16.84% | 17.39% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 20.15% | 23.67% |
| Category | CVS | CI |
|---|---|---|
| Company | CVS Health Corporation | The Cigna Group |
| Sector | Healthcare | Healthcare |
| Industry | Healthcare Plans | Healthcare Plans |
| Core business | A diversified healthcare company operating retail pharmacy, pharmacy benefits management, and health insurance businesses, combining Aetna's insurance operations with CVS's pharmacy and growing healthcare delivery services. | A diversified health services company operating health insurance and pharmacy benefits management businesses, providing medical benefits alongside pharmacy and specialty pharmacy services through its Evernorth segment. |
| Investor focus | Health insurance segment margin recovery, pharmacy benefits management retention and pricing trends, and integration progress across the combined retail, pharmacy, and insurance businesses. | Evernorth pharmacy and specialty services growth, medical cost trend management within the insurance business, and margin performance across segments. |
- Vertically integrated model combining retail pharmacy, pharmacy benefits management, and health insurance creates a differentiated healthcare services platform
- Extensive retail pharmacy footprint provides broad consumer access points for both pharmacy and expanding care services
- Large scale in pharmacy benefits management supports negotiating leverage with drug manufacturers
- Evernorth segment combines pharmacy benefits management with specialty pharmacy and other health services, providing diversified revenue streams
- Health insurance business provides scale in medical benefits administration across employer and government-sponsored plans
- Diversified segment structure balances insurance underwriting exposure with services-oriented Evernorth revenue
- Health insurance segment has faced elevated medical cost trends pressuring margins in recent periods
- Integration across retail, pharmacy benefits, and insurance businesses carries ongoing execution complexity
- Regulatory scrutiny of pharmacy benefits management practices could affect industry economics over time
- Health insurance segment remains exposed to medical cost trend fluctuations that can pressure underwriting margins
- Regulatory scrutiny of pharmacy benefits management practices could affect industry economics over time
- Competitive managed care and pharmacy services landscape includes several other large diversified health companies
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