5 Best Low Risk Stocks to Buy in 2023

4. CVS Health Corporation (NYSE:CVS)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 66

Beta Value: 0.56

CVS Health Corporation (NYSE:CVS) is a health solutions company based in Woonsocket, Rhode Island and a history dating back to 1963. It has more than 9,900 retail locations, nearly 1,100 walk-in medical clinics, a leading pharmacy benefits manager with approximately 110 million plan members, and more than 68,000 retail network pharmacies under its pharmacy services.

On November 1, CVS Health Corporation (NYSE:CVS) released its financial results for Q3 2023. Its revenues increased by 11% y-o-y to $89.8 billion, while it generated a net income of $2.3 billion, compared to a net loss of $3.4 billion last year. CVS Health Corporation (NYSE:CVS) also declared a dividend of $0.605 per share for the quarter.

Following the earnings release, Morgan Stanley analyst Erin Wright lowered the price target on CVS Health Corporation (NYSE:CVS) shares to $100 from $110 but maintained an ‘Overweight’ rating. The price target represents a potential upside of 43.78% based on the share price on November 8.

This is what Harris Associates, advisor to Oakmark Funds, had to say about CVS Health Corporation (NYSE:CVS) in Oakmark Fund’s Q3 2023 investor letter:

“Managed care and pharmacy benefits management have proven to be good businesses over time, characterized by healthy underlying growth and excellent free cash flow generation. CVS has underperformed the S&P 500 by more than 40 percentage points over the past 12 months, impacted by a cloud of company specific and legislative concerns. While we are not dismissive of these potential risks and headwinds, we believe the market has become overly pessimistic. This created an attractive opportunity to invest in what we view as a durable, competitively advantaged and well-managed enterprise at a high-single-digit multiple of earnings.”