Britt J. Vitalone
Thank you, Brian, and good afternoon. Before I turn to our adjusted results, I want to provide 2 updates. As Brian mentioned in his opening remarks, we are pleased to have entered into a definitive agreement to sell the retail and distribution businesses in Norway. This transaction will complete the exit of our European operations and is subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals. We will classify the assets and liabilities related to Norway as held for sale beginning with our fiscal 2026 second quarter. The held-for-sale treatment includes the impact from discontinued depreciation and amortization, and our guidance assumes an approximate $0.20 adjusted earnings per diluted share impact, and this is included in our updated full year guidance, which I will speak to in a few minutes. We've assumed that this transaction does not close during fiscal 2026. Next, in our first quarter, we recorded a GAAP-only pretax provision for bad debts of $189 million or $140 million after tax within the U.S. Pharmaceutical segment. This charge represents the remaining trade accounts receivable balances due from Rite Aid prior to its second bankruptcy filing. The remainder of my comments today will refer to our adjusted results, and I'll start by discussing our first quarter fiscal 2026 results, and then I'll discuss our fiscal 2026 outlook. Our first quarter results were strong, led by double-digit operating profit growth in 3 of the 4 segments. This robust performance exhibited across the enterprise reflects continued momentum in the operation, execution against our strategies and disciplined capital deployment, which is underpinned by the strength of our balance sheet. Consolidated revenues in the quarter increased 23% to $97.8 billion, led by growth in the U.S. Pharmaceutical segment due to increased prescription volumes from retail national account customers, the addition of a strategic account customer at the beginning of the second quarter in fiscal 2025, growth of GLP-1 medications and growth in the distribution of oncology and specialty products. We've also now cycled through the impact of the strategic account onboarding. Gross profit was $3.3 billion, an increase of 7%, a result of specialty distribution and provider growth within the U.S. Pharmaceutical segment and growth in the Prescription Technology Solutions segment, driven by our access and affordability solutions, which was partially offset by lower contributions in our International segment as a result of the divestiture of our Canada-based Rexall and Well.ca businesses at the end of the third quarter of fiscal 2025. Operating expenses decreased 1% to $1.9 billion, driven by divestitures in our Canadian business and cost optimization initiatives in the Medical-Surgical Solutions segment, which were partially offset by increased operating expenses in the U.S. Pharmaceutical segment to support growth, including first quarter fiscal 2026 acquisitions. McKesson continues to deliver efficiency and operating leverage through disciplined focus and the implementation of process innovations and advanced technology, including artificial intelligence. I'd also like to highlight how our automation investments are enhancing outcomes for customers, partners and employees while driving measurable improvement in operating leverage. Across our pharmaceutical distribution network, we're strategically allocating capital to scale automation from outbound picking to inbound receiving and replenishment. We have observed distribution centers, which have achieved up to 90% automation, serving as a tangible proof point of throughput scalability and operational consistency. These advancements are driving measurable operating leverage. We also recently opened our largest specialty distribution center in Olive Branch, Mississippi, which is equipped with mobile autonomous robots or cobots that assist associates in the order fulfillment process. These technologies improve productivity, efficiency and order accuracy while elevating the employee experience by reducing physical strain and minimizing injury risk. These investments are advancing our capabilities and delivering meaningful value to stakeholders. And these are just 2 of several examples across the enterprise that helped to contribute more than 450 basis points of year-over-year improvement in our consolidated operating expense to gross profit ratio. Our operating profit was $1.4 billion in the quarter, which was an increase of 9%. Year-over-year results benefited from growth across our operating segments, including strong oncology and multi-specialty volumes from organic growth and recent acquisitions, increased demand for access solutions in our Prescription Technology Solutions segment and benefits from the cost optimization initiatives in the Medical-Surgical Solutions segment. As a reminder, first quarter fiscal 2025 operating profit included $110 million of gains related to McKesson Ventures equity investments compared to gains of $1 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2026. Excluding the impact of gains related to McKesson Ventures equity investments, operating profit increased 19%. Interest expense was $44 million, a decrease over the prior year, resulting from effective cash and portfolio management, including our derivative portfolio. The effective tax rate in the first quarter was 21.4% compared to 13% in the prior year. In the first quarter of fiscal 2026, we recognized a discrete tax benefit of $23 million compared to a discrete tax benefit of $125 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2025. First quarter diluted weighted average shares outstanding was 125.5 million, a decrease of 4%. And first quarter earnings per diluted share increased 5% to $8.26. Year-over-year growth was driven by strong operational performance across the business, partially offset by a higher tax rate and pretax gains of $110 million associated with McKesson Ventures equity investments in the first quarter of fiscal 2025. Excluding the gains from McKesson Ventures investments, earnings per diluted share increased 14%. Turning to first quarter segment results, which can be found on Slides 7 through 12 and starting with U.S. Pharmaceutical. Revenues were $90 billion, an increase of 25%, driven by increased prescription volumes from retail national account customers and growth in the distribution of oncology and specialty products, including contributions from acquisitions. Growth in the quarter included the onboarding of a new strategic customer as discussed previously. Revenues from GLP-1 medications were $12.1 billion in the quarter, an increase of approximately $3.3 billion or 38% when compared to the prior year. On a sequential basis, GLP-1 revenue increased 11%. Segment operating profit increased 17% to $950 million, driven by growth in core distribution, including higher volumes from retail national account customers and growth in the distribution of oncology and specialty products. Operating profit growth in the quarter also included contributions from the acquisitions of PRISM Vision and Core Ventures. These acquisitions advance our strategy in oncology and multi-specialty solutions. Although integration work remains, we're seeing early gains benefiting our differentiated platforms. In the Prescription Technology Solutions segment, revenues increased 16% to $1.4 billion, driven by increased Prescription volumes in the third-party logistics business. Operating profit increased 21% to $269 million, driven by higher demand for access solutions, including prior authorization services for GLP-1 medications. Turning to Medical-Surgical Solutions. In the first quarter, revenues were $2.7 billion, an increase of 2%, driven by higher volumes of Specialty Pharmaceuticals. Operating profit increased 22% to $244 million, driven by operational efficiencies from cost optimization initiatives. Next, let me address our international results. Revenues were $3.7 billion, an increase of 1%, resulting from higher pharmaceutical distribution volumes in the Canadian business, partially offset by the divestiture of our Canada-based Rexall and Well.ca businesses completed at the end of the fiscal 2025 third quarter. Excluding the impact of divested businesses, revenues increased 5%. Operating profit was $99 million, a decrease of 3%, driven by the divestiture of the Canada-based Rexall and Well.ca businesses, partially offset by higher pharmaceutical distribution volumes in the Canadian business. Excluding the impact of divested businesses, operating profit was flat. And wrapping up our segment review with corporate. Corporate expenses were $138 million in the quarter. As a reminder, during the first quarter of fiscal 2025, we had pretax gains of $110 million or $0.62 per share related to equity investments within the McKesson Ventures portfolio. Excluding McKesson Ventures gains in fiscal 2025 and 2026, corporate expenses were 4% lower than the prior year. The decrease was driven by lower opioid-related expense and technology costs. Let me turn to cash and capital deployment in the first quarter, which can be found on Slide 13. We ended the quarter with $2.4 billion in cash and cash equivalents. For the first quarter, we had negative free cash flow of $1.1 billion, which included $189 million in capital expenditures. We used $3.4 billion of cash for the acquisitions of PRISM Vision and Core Ventures. During the quarter, we completed a $2 billion bond issuance with tenors of 5, 7 and 10 years, the proceeds of which were used to finance the Core Ventures acquisition. Additionally, we returned $671 million of cash to shareholders, which included $581 million of share repurchases and $90 million in dividend payments. Moving now to our fiscal 2026 outlook. Our first quarter results represent strong execution against our strategies and growth across our operating segments. The strong start and momentum across the enterprise, combined with our ongoing focus to deliver shareholder value through the management of our portfolio and alignment to our enterprise strategy gives us confidence in our outlook for fiscal 2026. STELARA first quarter results, combined with our announcement of a definitive agreement to sell our Norway-based business, underpins today's increase to our fiscal 2026 earnings per diluted share outlook to a new range of $37.10 to $37.90. For fiscal 2026, we anticipate revenue growth of 11% to 15% and operating profit growth of 9% to 13% when compared to the prior year. Let me start with a review of our segments. U.S. Pharmaceutical segment, we anticipate revenues to increase 12% to 16%. As a result of strong first quarter performance, we now anticipate operating profits to increase at the high end of the previously provided range of 12% to 16% growth. In the core distribution business, we anticipate continued growth of GLP-1 medications. However, we anticipate this growth may vary from quarter-to-quarter. During the first quarter, we successfully completed 2 strategic acquisitions, PRISM Vision and Core Ventures. These actions are consistent with our disciplined capital deployment strategy, allocating capital against our differentiated growth platforms such as oncology and multispecialty. These acquisitions will deliver growth in a value-creating manner and position us for durable growth in fiscal 2026, supporting our long-range targets. As a reminder, on April 1, we completed the acquisition of a controlling interest in PRISM Vision Holdings, a premier provider of general ophthalmology and retina management services. On June 2, we completed the acquisition of a controlling interest in Community Oncology Revitalization Enterprise Ventures, or Core Ventures, an internal business and administrative services organization established by Florida Cancer Specialists & Research Institute. As I discussed previously, we're pleased with the first quarter performance for these acquisitions. We continue to anticipate the acquisitions of PRISM and Core Ventures will contribute approximately 6% to 7% to the fiscal 2026 operating profit growth in the U.S. Pharmaceutical segment. In the Prescription Technology Solutions segment, we anticipate revenues to increase by 8% to 12% and operating profit to increase by 9% to 13%. The higher revenue outlook is due to increased third-party logistics volumes and greater demand for our supported products and programs. We anticipate continued contribution from prior authorization services, including those related to GLP-1 medications to drive increased demand for our access and affordability solutions contributing to the growth of the segment. The outlook affirms our confidence in achieving operating profit growth in fiscal 2026, in line with the long-term growth rate target. As I previously discussed, the revenue and operating profit trajectory in this segment is not linear and can vary from quarter-to- quarter, driven by several factors, which include utilization trends, the timing and trajectory of new product drug launches, the evolution of a product program support requirements as it matures, which could result in the shift to other services or program termination, product delays and supply shortages, payer requirements, including utilization management and formulary strategies, the annual verification programs that we provide for our customers that occur in our fiscal fourth quarter and the size and timing of investments to support and expand our product portfolio. We have scale and breadth of capabilities and connections across multiple channels, including biopharma, providers, retail pharmacies and payers. Our leading scale of digitally connected solutions is addressing market and patient challenges in access, affordability and adherence and delivering growth and value for all stakeholders. In the Medical-Surgical Solutions segment, we anticipate revenues and operating profit to increase 2% to 6%. We're pleased with the solid start to the year and the continued focus and delivery of cost optimization opportunities, resulting in operating efficiencies and better alignment with our customers. In the International segment, we anticipate revenues to be approximately a 2% decline to 2% growth and operating profit to increase 3% to 7%. Segment outlook reflects continued growth in the Canadian distribution business, partially offset by the impact of the divestiture of our Canada-based Rexall and Well.ca businesses at the end of the third quarter of fiscal 2025. As I mentioned earlier, on August 4, 2025, McKesson entered into a definitive agreement to sell its retail and distribution businesses in Norway. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including receipt of required regulatory approvals. Our fiscal 2026 outlook contemplates contributions related to operations in Norway for the full fiscal year and includes held-for-sale accounting treatment, adding approximately $0.20 of operating profit to the segment. In the Corporate segment, we anticipate expenses to be in the range of $570 million to $630 million. When excluding the impact of McKesson Ventures gains in fiscal 2025 and 2026, corporate expenses are roughly flat compared to the prior year, a reflection of efficiency gains and cost discipline across the enterprise. Turning now to items below the line. We anticipate interest expense to be in the range of $260 million to $290 million and income attributable to noncontrolling interest to be in the range of $215 million to $235 million. The updated interest expense outlook includes the $2 billion of debt issuance associated with the acquisition of Core Ventures completed in the first quarter of fiscal 2026. We anticipate the full year effective tax rate will be in the range of 17% to 19%, with the first half of the fiscal year to be in the range of 17% to 20% and the second half to be approximately 16% to 19%. Wrapping up our outlook with cash flow and capital deployment. We anticipate free cash flow of approximately $4.4 billion to $4.8 billion. Our working capital metrics and free cash flow will vary from quarter-to-quarter and are impacted by timing, including the day of the week that marks the close of a quarter. We're also pleased to announce that in July, our Board of Directors approved a 15% increase to our quarterly dividend. These actions demonstrate the confidence that the Board of Directors and management have in the strength of the company and execution of our strategic priorities. Our outlook reflects plans to repurchase approximately $2.5 billion of shares in fiscal 2026. As a result of this share repurchase activity, we estimate weighted average diluted shares outstanding to be in the range of approximately 124 million to 125 million. In summary, we delivered outstanding performance in the first quarter of fiscal 2026, a continuation of the strong momentum across the enterprise. The strength and stability in the underlying fundamentals across our businesses, including the acquisitions of PRISM Vision and Core Ventures give us confidence in our increased outlook. Our sustained financial performance, bolstered by the strength of our financial position and consistent operating execution are leading to compelling value creation for our customers, partners and shareholders. With that, we should move to the Q&A session.