Healthy Gains

CVS Corp. (Woonsocket, R.I.), the nation's second-largest drugstore chain, reported a 14 percent increase in profits for its first quarter ended April 1, 2006.

Revenue rose 9 percent and same-store sales grew 6.2 percent.

The company attributed its results to strong sales growth and improved margins driven by a favorable product mix, both in the front of the store and in the pharmacy.

The good news for the 5475-unit retailer eased concerns that drug retailers' profits could be diminished by the start of a complicated federal drug program, Medicare Part D, to provide prescription drug coverage for the elderly.

“You had an incomprehensible plan managed by multiple managers and foisted upon the elderly and the potentially confused with no training,” one analyst said. “Everybody was up in the air.”