Introduction
Investing in great companies sits at the core of my investment philosophy. In this regard, I reject the idea that I invest in the stock market. To me, the stock market is simply the store I shop in to purchase interests in fine businesses. In the final analysis, my investment objective is to become a long-term shareholder/partner in a business that I believe can make me money over time.
On the other hand, no matter how great I think the business is, I am also very focused on only investing in it at a fair price. When looking for great businesses, this can at times be a problem. Great businesses attract investors, and since stocks are liquid instruments, the forces of supply and demand can have a significant impact on valuation over the short run. In other words, the demand for great businesses is typically high.
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Nevertheless, time is the equalizer where in the long run a company’s stock price will be driven by its business success. When dealing with stocks, the common measuring sticks are earnings, cash flows and dividends – if a company pays one. Consequently, because of the supply/demand dynamics over the short run, a company’s valuation can be temporarily out-of-sync with its business success.
Therefore, to my way of thinking, the trick to long-term investment success is to identify a great business and then invest in it only when the market offers it at a fair or attractive valuation. You can overpay for even the greatest company, and if you’re diligent you can also find times when it is fairly valued or even undervalued. I am content to buy a great business at fair value, and I get quite excited when given the opportunity to invest at a low valuation. I have recently become interested in CVS Health Corp (NYSE:CVS) because I believe the market has recently provided an opportunity to invest in it at a fair price.
CVS Health Corporation a Great Business at a Fair Price
Before I delve into CVS Health Corporation’s valuation, I would like to establish why I consider it a great business from a shareholder’s perspective. For starters, I really admire the consistency of operating results that the company has generated. The following F.A.S.T. Graph plots the company’s earnings and dividends since 2000 through 2015. Note that I chose this timeframe because it includes both of our most recent recessions. It is very rare to find a company that has so consistently grown its earnings and dividends over time. Moreover, in addition to consistent growth, CVS’s growth rate has also been significantly above average.
CVS has grown earnings at the compound annual rate of 12.5% since 2000 versus the S&P 500 which has only grown earnings at the rate of 5.4%. As I will later illustrate, CVS’s stronger earnings and dividend growth has led to significantly higher returns than the market over this timeframe. Importantly, both capital appreciation and cumulative total dividend income have been superior with CVS. This illustrates my basic definition of a great business. A great business is one that has proven itself to grow faster and more consistently than the average company. CVS represents a quintessential example of that standard, as illustrated by the following earnings and dividend graph.
