(Updated - February 27, 2018 4:03 PM EST)

Express Scripts (NASDAQ: ESRX) reported Q4 EPS of $2.16, $0.07 better than the analyst estimate of $2.09. Revenue for the quarter came in at $25.38 billion versus the consensus estimate of $25.11 billion.

Business Outlook

"With a significant number of our largest renewals completed and strong momentum in the market, we are in a position to provide an early look at our consolidated retention rate for the 2018 selling season, which we expect to reach 96% to 98%," said Wentworth.

The Company's enterprise value initiative is estimated to cost approximately $600 million to $650 million and to deliver cumulative savings of nearly $1.2 billion by 2021, with an annual run rate of between $550 million to $600 million thereafter. This initiative is expected to help the Company achieve its targeted compounded annual adjusted EBITDA growth rate for the core business from 2017-2020 of between 2% and 4%, and drive significant value to patients and clients beginning in 2018.

2018 Guidance

As previously stated, the Company is using $20 million of the tax benefit from the Tax Act to fund a bonus pool to reward our non-executive employees. While it was not contemplated when the 2018 guidance was released, we are not adjusting our guidance for the item. The Company reaffirms its guidance and expects consolidated 2018 adjusted earnings per diluted share guidance in the range of $9.27 to $9.47 ($1.60 attributable to the Tax Act), which represents growth of 32% over 2017 consolidated adjusted earnings per diluted share at the mid-point of the range.

The Company expects total adjusted claims for the first quarter of 2018 to be in the range of 335 million to 345 million, of which 280 million to 290 million is attributable to the core business. Consolidated adjusted earnings per diluted share for the first quarter of 2018 are estimated to be in the range of $1.73 to $1.78, which represents growth of 30% to 34% over the first quarter of 2017.

(Street sees FY 18 EPS of $8.86 on revenue of $101.1 billion and FY EPS of $1.74 on revenue of $24.99 billion)

For earnings history and earnings-related data on Express Scripts (ESRX) click here.