12:15 PM EDT, 05/02/2024 (MT Newswires) -- CFRA, an independent research provider, has provided MT Newswires with the following research alert. Analysts at CFRA have summarized their opinion as follows:

We lift our 12-month target price to $404 from $398, reflecting 12.6x multiple of our 2025 EPS estimate, a premium to CI's historical forward average due to our view of EPS growth acceleration with the sale of CI's Medicare businesses to HCSC (expected to close in the first quarter of 2025). We widen our 2024 EPS estimate to $28.55 from $28.44 and our 2025 view to $32.06 from $32.03. CI posted Q1 EPS of $6.47 vs. $5.41, exceeding the S&P Capital IQ consensus estimate by $0.25. Sales of $57.2B slightly exceeded our expectactions driven by Pharmacy Benefit Services growth (+43% Y/Y) due to new business wins, including Centene starting on January 1. CI took a sizable impairment on VillageMD equity securities in the quarter as VillageMD scales down its footprint, a negative development, though we do not anticipate impairments on this asset will recur. We forecast a robust free cash flow yield of 9.4% this year, well above the peer average of 6.1%, and see room for multiple expansion toward peers.