CVS Healthvs.McKesson
CVS vs MCK · both in Distribution & pharmacy infrastructure, part of the Medicine, pharma & life science value chain: Wholesalers, distribution and pharmacy chains that get medicines to patients.
CVS Health is about 1.2× larger than McKesson by market cap; McKesson trades at the lower P/E (21.9 vs 25.0); year to date, CVS Health leads (+18.6% vs +6.5%).
Supply-chain link: McKesson supplies CVS Health.
Side by side
| CVS | MCK | |
|---|---|---|
| Market cap | $122B | $101B |
| Price | $92.90 | $905.09 |
| Today | −1.3% | +3.6% |
| Return YTD | +18.6% | +6.5% |
| Return 1Y | +32.0% | +26.7% |
| P/E | 25.0 | 21.9 |
| P/S | 0.3 | 0.2 |
| P/B | 1.5 | 17.1 |
Data as of 2026-08-26 · updates daily after U.S. close
The two companies
CVS HealthCVS
The retail pharmacies are the visible part. Behind them sit Aetna, the group's health insurance arm, and Caremark, its pharmacy benefit manager. The same company can dispense a prescription and insure the patient who receives it.
Full CVS profile →McKessonMCK
Medicines reach the counter through wholesalers, and McKesson is one of them: its customers run from pharmacies to hospitals and clinics across the US. Alongside distribution it sells services to pharmacy operators and runs an oncology network.
Full MCK profile →More CVS & MCK comparisons
Other head-to-heads in the Distribution & pharmacy infrastructure segment.