In April, the corporate behemoth that started life as the Consumer Value Store celebrated its 60th birthday with a costume party. Karen Lynch, the CEO of what is now CVS Health, asked her top executives to attend a town hall dressed in 1960s fashion. Some opted for tie-dye, some opted out. Lynch herself enthusiastically embraced the brief, donning the white go-go boots and pillbox hat of a Mad Men–era flight attendant.
With nearly 10,000 retail stores, CVS is seen by investors to be more closely battling Walgreens Boots Alliance. Though CVS and UnitedHealth are nearly equal in revenue, investors give UnitedHealth a market value more than four times greater than CVS.