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CVS vs. EVH: Which Value-Based Care Stock Deserves Investor Attention?
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Key Takeaways
CVS posted 8.4% revenue growth, raised its outlook, and is investing to stabilize Oak Street and Aetna.
EVH cut 2025 revenue outlook but expects $250M from Aetna oncology deals by early 2026.
CVS trades at a lower P/S than EVH, with stronger earnings momentum and year-to-date share price gains.
The U.S. value-based care (VBC) service market is evolving rapidly, attracting investors for the prospect of long-term stability and compelling returns. Unlike traditional fee-for-service care, the VBC modelemphasizes integrated care, where providers collaborate to address a person’s physical, mental, behavioral and social needs, rather than a particular condition. CVS Health (CVS - Free Report) and Evolent Health (EVH - Free Report) are prominent players in this space, aiming to deliver higher-quality care at a lower overall cost to the industry.
CVS Health’s Oak Street Health, with over 230 centers nationwide, provides primary care services to Medicare-eligible patients, while also expanding VBC across other businesses, including Aetna and MinuteClinic. On the other hand, Evolent is an early innovator in VBC, initially focusing on primary care and has since developed deep expertise across several key specialties, including oncology, cardiology and genetic testing.
Let’s take a closer look at the current scenario for these two players.
The Case for CVS Health
The company’s latest quarterly performance reflected solid execution, with revenues climbing 8.4% year over year. Adjusted earnings per share (EPS), however, slipped 2 cents to $1.81. Earlier this year, CVS announced its exit from the Accountable Care Organization Realizing Equity, Access and Community Health (“ACO REACH”) program and the sale of the Medicare Shared Savings Program (“MSSP”), through which it provided enablement services to independent health systems. In response to higher medical benefit ratios at Oak Street, the company is taking actions to strengthen the business, including investing in technology, enhancing leadership, and improving payer client partnerships.
Stabilizing Aetna is a top priority. Aetna’s novel approach to bundling multiple prior authorization requests for certain cancer-related scans and tests into a single upfront approval is a highly promising step. Effective 2026, CVS will exit states where Aetna independently operates ACA plans, prioritising areas where it has the strongest capabilities, including Medicare, commercial and Medicaid.
Meanwhile, Caremark — the company’s pharmacy benefit manager — is off to a strong start to the 2026 selling season, with retention expected in the high 90s. Caremark has partnered with Novo Nordisk to expand access to Wegovy, a GLP-1 drug, at a more affordable price by taking a formulary action effective July 1. CVS also offers additional lifestyle clinical support via its weight management program, which has helped members achieve greater weight loss than the pre-program results.
Starting Jan. 1, 2026, Caremark will provide outpatient prescription drug benefits for approximately 587,000 CalPERS members enrolled in Basic or Medicare HMO and PPO plans. With all commercial scripts shifted to its CostVantage pharmacy reimbursement model, CVS is preparing to transition the government business to cost-based pricing models. Also, the company raised its full-year outlook, now expecting revenues of at least $391.5 billion and an adjusted EPS in the range of $6.30 to $6.40.
The Case for Evolent Health
The company’s revenues declined 31.3% year over year in the second quarter of 2025, while earnings were a loss of 10 cents per share, versus 18 cents EPS in the year-ago period. Yet, it continues to advance across all three pillars of shareholder value creation, organic growth, margin expansion and capital allocation.
Evolent believes its solutions are well-positioned to give a holistic view of a person's journey through cancer, cardiovascular disease or musculoskeletal conditions. In the second quarter, it secured four new revenue agreements across both Technology and Services and the Performance Suite, bringing the year-to-date total to 11.
Interestingly, Evolent has a partnership with Aetna to provide oncology services across 250,000 Medicare Advantage members in Florida, with plans to expand across more states over time. These deals are expected to contribute over $250 million in new revenues by the time they are fully live in the first quarter of 2026. The company’s late-stage pipeline remains robust, as health plans grapple with new pressures on their P&Ls, including in risk adjustment shortfalls and medical utilization trends.
Further, Evolent also integrated Machinify’s Auth intelligence solution into a number of workflows, boosting review efficiency by roughly 11% in the last quarter and targeting 80% of the current authorization volume to be auto-approved within the next 24 months.
Second-quarter adjusted EBITDA of $37.5 million was in the top half of the company’s range, with Evolent projecting to achieve a net $20 million annualized run rate EBITDA improvement by year-end, supported by AI and operational efficiency initiatives. Its capital allocation strategy prioritizes investing in organic product development and deploying free cash to delever. Meanwhile, the company cut its 2025 revenue outlook to $1.85 billion-$1.88 billion, from the previous $2.06-$2.11 billion range, mainly due to the Aetna go-live timing.
CVS and EVH: Price Performance and Valuation
Year to date, CVS shares have surged 63.7%, outpacing EVH’s 23.3% decline.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Valuation-wise, CVS shares are trading at a forward price-to-sales (P/S) of 0.23X, lower than Evolent’s sales multiple of 0.45X over the five years.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
How Estimates Stack Up for CVS & EVH?
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for CVS Health’s 2025 EPS implies year-over-year growth of 17% to $6.34. Estimates have shown an upward trend in the last 90 days.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Meanwhile, the consensus mark for Evolent Health’s EPS has remained stable at 42 cents for the past 90 days. The estimate represents a 2.4% increase over 2024.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
CVS or EVH: Which One to Pick?
Both companies are poised to remain major players in the VBC space. Strong strategic execution underpins their performance, with CVS advancing Aetna’s recovery and strengthening Oak Street, and Evolent building across its three pillars of shareholder value creation. CVS’ upbeat full-year guidance is a plus. Supported by its attractive valuation, solid share price momentum and rising earnings estimates, CVS presently appears to be better positioned than EVH.
Image: Bigstock
CVS vs. EVH: Which Value-Based Care Stock Deserves Investor Attention?
Key Takeaways
The U.S. value-based care (VBC) service market is evolving rapidly, attracting investors for the prospect of long-term stability and compelling returns. Unlike traditional fee-for-service care, the VBC modelemphasizes integrated care, where providers collaborate to address a person’s physical, mental, behavioral and social needs, rather than a particular condition. CVS Health (CVS - Free Report) and Evolent Health (EVH - Free Report) are prominent players in this space, aiming to deliver higher-quality care at a lower overall cost to the industry.
CVS Health’s Oak Street Health, with over 230 centers nationwide, provides primary care services to Medicare-eligible patients, while also expanding VBC across other businesses, including Aetna and MinuteClinic. On the other hand, Evolent is an early innovator in VBC, initially focusing on primary care and has since developed deep expertise across several key specialties, including oncology, cardiology and genetic testing.
Let’s take a closer look at the current scenario for these two players.
The Case for CVS Health
The company’s latest quarterly performance reflected solid execution, with revenues climbing 8.4% year over year. Adjusted earnings per share (EPS), however, slipped 2 cents to $1.81. Earlier this year, CVS announced its exit from the Accountable Care Organization Realizing Equity, Access and Community Health (“ACO REACH”) program and the sale of the Medicare Shared Savings Program (“MSSP”), through which it provided enablement services to independent health systems. In response to higher medical benefit ratios at Oak Street, the company is taking actions to strengthen the business, including investing in technology, enhancing leadership, and improving payer client partnerships.
Stabilizing Aetna is a top priority. Aetna’s novel approach to bundling multiple prior authorization requests for certain cancer-related scans and tests into a single upfront approval is a highly promising step. Effective 2026, CVS will exit states where Aetna independently operates ACA plans, prioritising areas where it has the strongest capabilities, including Medicare, commercial and Medicaid.
Meanwhile, Caremark — the company’s pharmacy benefit manager — is off to a strong start to the 2026 selling season, with retention expected in the high 90s. Caremark has partnered with Novo Nordisk to expand access to Wegovy, a GLP-1 drug, at a more affordable price by taking a formulary action effective July 1. CVS also offers additional lifestyle clinical support via its weight management program, which has helped members achieve greater weight loss than the pre-program results.
Starting Jan. 1, 2026, Caremark will provide outpatient prescription drug benefits for approximately 587,000 CalPERS members enrolled in Basic or Medicare HMO and PPO plans. With all commercial scripts shifted to its CostVantage pharmacy reimbursement model, CVS is preparing to transition the government business to cost-based pricing models. Also, the company raised its full-year outlook, now expecting revenues of at least $391.5 billion and an adjusted EPS in the range of $6.30 to $6.40.
The Case for Evolent Health
The company’s revenues declined 31.3% year over year in the second quarter of 2025, while earnings were a loss of 10 cents per share, versus 18 cents EPS in the year-ago period. Yet, it continues to advance across all three pillars of shareholder value creation, organic growth, margin expansion and capital allocation.
Evolent believes its solutions are well-positioned to give a holistic view of a person's journey through cancer, cardiovascular disease or musculoskeletal conditions. In the second quarter, it secured four new revenue agreements across both Technology and Services and the Performance Suite, bringing the year-to-date total to 11.
Interestingly, Evolent has a partnership with Aetna to provide oncology services across 250,000 Medicare Advantage members in Florida, with plans to expand across more states over time. These deals are expected to contribute over $250 million in new revenues by the time they are fully live in the first quarter of 2026. The company’s late-stage pipeline remains robust, as health plans grapple with new pressures on their P&Ls, including in risk adjustment shortfalls and medical utilization trends.
Further, Evolent also integrated Machinify’s Auth intelligence solution into a number of workflows, boosting review efficiency by roughly 11% in the last quarter and targeting 80% of the current authorization volume to be auto-approved within the next 24 months.
Second-quarter adjusted EBITDA of $37.5 million was in the top half of the company’s range, with Evolent projecting to achieve a net $20 million annualized run rate EBITDA improvement by year-end, supported by AI and operational efficiency initiatives. Its capital allocation strategy prioritizes investing in organic product development and deploying free cash to delever. Meanwhile, the company cut its 2025 revenue outlook to $1.85 billion-$1.88 billion, from the previous $2.06-$2.11 billion range, mainly due to the Aetna go-live timing.
CVS and EVH: Price Performance and Valuation
Year to date, CVS shares have surged 63.7%, outpacing EVH’s 23.3% decline.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Valuation-wise, CVS shares are trading at a forward price-to-sales (P/S) of 0.23X, lower than Evolent’s sales multiple of 0.45X over the five years.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
How Estimates Stack Up for CVS & EVH?
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for CVS Health’s 2025 EPS implies year-over-year growth of 17% to $6.34. Estimates have shown an upward trend in the last 90 days.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Meanwhile, the consensus mark for Evolent Health’s EPS has remained stable at 42 cents for the past 90 days. The estimate represents a 2.4% increase over 2024.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
CVS or EVH: Which One to Pick?
Both companies are poised to remain major players in the VBC space. Strong strategic execution underpins their performance, with CVS advancing Aetna’s recovery and strengthening Oak Street, and Evolent building across its three pillars of shareholder value creation. CVS’ upbeat full-year guidance is a plus. Supported by its attractive valuation, solid share price momentum and rising earnings estimates, CVS presently appears to be better positioned than EVH.
Both CVS and EVH carry a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.