The Moat Index

CVS HEALTH Corp

CVS · Consumer Discretionary · $136.6B mkt cap · FY2025 filings · No moat ·

Doesn't clear the bar

17/ 100
No moat

The four filters

Pricing power37

Median gross margin 39.0% over 10y, variable.

Returns on capital18

Median ROIC 7.5%, above the 9% hurdle in 20% of years.

Balance-sheet safety0

Net debt/EBITDA 6.1x, interest coverage 1x.

Capital discipline0

Owner earnings -4.9%/yr, share count growing (dilution).

Margin of safety

Above valueOn sale
91% above value
Owner earnings (normalized)
$6.4B
Est. intrinsic value / share
$56.21
Recent price
$107.47
Discount to value
91% above value

Conservative model: 9% discount rate, 0% assumed growth (capped at 4%), maintenance capex ≈ min(capex, D&A).

20 years of fundamentals

The business, in plain English

CVS HEALTH Corp booked $402.1B of revenue in FY2025 in the Consumer Discretionary sector and kept 45.0% of it as gross profit — a solid-margin business by that measure. After every other cost, 0.4% of each revenue dollar reached the bottom line.

Across the filed record, revenue grew from $76.3B (FY2007) to $402.1B (FY2025) — about 9.7% a year compounded over 18 years.

It earned 2.9% on invested capital in FY2025, with a median of 8.7% across 19 filed years. The Returns on Capital filter above scores it 18/100.

The balance sheet carried $64.6B of total debt in FY2025 against $3.5B of owner earnings — roughly 18.2 years of owner earnings to retire it all. Balance-Sheet Safety scores it 0/100.

The share count fell 11.5% between FY2008 and FY2025 — management has been retiring shares, which concentrates each remaining owner's claim. Capital Discipline scores it 0/100.

Put together: Pricing Power is the strongest of the four filters (37/100) and Balance-Sheet Safety the weakest (0/100), which is how CVS lands at 17/100 — a None moat.

This breakdown is generated from the filed numbers and sub-scores above — no outside narrative, no estimates. Where a filing doesn’t disclose an input, the sentence that would need it is omitted instead of guessed.

FY2006–FY2025 · 20 fiscal years, normalized from CVS’s SEC filings

RevenueSales, as filed$402.1B FY2025
$0$200B$400B2006201320202025
Gross marginRevenue kept after cost of goods45.0% FY2025
0%20%40%2006201320202025
Return on invested capitalOperating profit on the capital employed2.9% FY2025
0%5%10%2006201320202025
Owner earningsCash an owner could take out$3.5B FY2025
$0$5B$10B2006201320202025

Gaps in a line mean that item isn’t in CVS’s filings for that year — the series is never interpolated or estimated. The Table view lists every filed value, including operating and net margins, total debt, and share count.

Moat Score history

3 logged readings since Jul 17, 2026 · append-only, never rewritten

Moat Score over timeLast scored reading of each day, on the 0–100 scale16.5 / 100
0406080100WideNarrowShallowNo moatJul 17, 2026

Score history begins Jul 17, 2026 — the record builds from here and can’t be backfilled.

Tier changesSame-methodology crossings of the Wide / Narrow / Shallow bars

None yet — CVS has read No moat for every logged capture since Jul 17, 2026.

Scores are logged append-only and never overwritten — this record can’t be backfilled, which is exactly why it’s worth keeping.

Consumer Discretionary context

#314 of 340 scored Consumer Discretionary companies, ranked by Moat Score.

Nearest peers by Moat Score

  1. #312AIRI AIR INDUSTRIES GROUP16.8 out of 100, No moatNo moat
  2. #313UHAL U-HAUL HOLDING COMPANY16.5 out of 100, No moatNo moat
  3. #315DBGI DIGITAL BRANDS GROUP, INC.16.4 out of 100, No moatNo moat
  4. #316RMSL REMSLEEP HOLDINGS, INC.16.2 out of 100, No moatNo moat

Compare CVS with its nearest peersAll Consumer Discretionary companies on the Index →

Common questions about CVS

Does CVS HEALTH Corp have an economic moat?
Based on its FY2025 SEC filings, the Moat Index scores CVS HEALTH Corp (CVS) 16.5 out of 100 — below the Shallow-moat bar, so no moat. The four filters behind that score (each 0–100): pricing power 37, returns on capital 18, balance-sheet safety 0, capital discipline 0.
Is CVS stock trading below its intrinsic value?
Against a deliberately conservative owner-earnings model (9% discount rate, 0% assumed growth, capped at 4%), estimated intrinsic value is $56.21 per share versus a recent price of $107.47 — 91% above value. This is an educational estimate computed from primary SEC filings, not investment advice.
How has CVS's Moat Score changed over time?
The record logs 3 readings since Jul 17, 2026; the latest reads 16.5 out of 100 (no moat). No tier changes on record yet. The history is append-only — readings are only ever added, never rewritten.
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CVS HEALTH Corp (CVS) Moat Score — The Moat Index · Buy Like Buffett