Medco Health Solutions Inc, which has agreed to be bought by rival Express Scripts Inc , posted a higher-than-expected quarterly profit as the pharmacy benefit manager increased dispensing of more profitable generic drugs.Medco remains confident the $29 billion merger will close in the first half of the year, the company said in conjunction with release of the financial results on Tuesday.Fourth-quarter net income rose to $424.4 million, or $1.08 per share, from $378.5 million, or 88 cents per share, a year ago.Excluding merger costs and other items, earnings of $1.25 topped by 8 cents the average estimate of analysts, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Express Scripts, Inc. is a pharmacy benefit management (PBM) operating in North America, offering a range of services to its clients, which include health maintenance organizations (HMOs), health insurers, third-party administrators, employers, union-sponsored benefit plans, workers? compensation plans and Government health programs. Shares of ESRX remained unchanged at $52.18. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $34.47 and as high as $60.89. On average, 6752220 shares of ESRX exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 0.
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