麦克森 (MCK) 2027财年第二季度业绩电话会：每股收益指引上调

核心要点

• 麦克森（McKesson）公布 2027 财年第二季度营收为 1110 亿美元，同比增长 8%，四大业务板块均实现增长。调整后摊薄每股收益（EPS）增长 18% 至 11.68 美元。
• 调整后营业利润增长 13% 至 19 亿美元。营业费用占毛利的比例改善了约 141 个基点，体现出经营杠杆效应与生产率的提升。
• 北美医药业务营业利润增长 22% 至 10 亿美元。GLP-1 分销收入达 160 亿美元，同比增长 26%，环比增长 8%。
• 管理层将 2027 财年调整后摊薄每股收益指引从 44.20-45.00 美元上调至 45.60-46.40 美元，意味着报告增长率为 17%-19%。
• 麦克森完成了对 Precision Medicine Group 约 22.5 亿美元的全现金收购。管理层预计该交易将为 2027 财年调整后每股收益贡献 0.10-0.20 美元，到第三年结束时预计贡献约 1.60-1.80 美元。
• 该公司同意投资约 14 亿美元收购 Option Care Health 49% 的少数股权。目前的业绩展望未包含该交易的任何贡献，该交易仍需获得股东和监管机构的批准。

核心财务业绩

扣除上年同期挪威业务剥离带来的 2500 万美元贡献以及出售股权投资和美国肿瘤网络（U.S. Oncology Network）内部市场头寸带来的 5100 万美元净收益后，调整后摊薄每股收益增长 24%。

业务与经营表现

北美医药板块

受处方量增加、特药产品以及 GLP-1 药物推动，营收增长 6% 至 914 亿美元。在 2026 年 1 月批发采购成本降低后，品牌药价格有所下降，拉低了约 4 个百分点的同比营收增速，但未对该板块的营业利润产生实质性影响。

GLP-1 分销收入增加约 30 亿美元，达到 160 亿美元。管理层表示，尽管各季度业绩可能随着支付方动态和患者使用情况而波动，但需求和销量依然强劲。

在特药分销、医疗系统及战略客户的推动下，营业利润增长 22% 至 10 亿美元。麦克森还延长了与 CVS Health 的药品分销合作关系；新合同期自 10 月 1 日开始，一直延续至 2032 年 6 月。

肿瘤与多专科板块

随着特药分销和医疗提供方平台业务量的增长，营收增长 24% 至 150 亿美元。营业利润增长 8% 至 4.27 亿美元，而上年同期则包含了来自美国肿瘤网络（U.S. Oncology Network）的 5100 万美元净收益。

管理层指出，医疗提供方解决方案、GPO（集中采购组织）服务以及特药分销均实现增长。公司网络覆盖的同店患者就诊量达到了近年季度的最高水平。PRISM Vision Group 还整合了 Spectrum Vision Partners 和 150 多名医疗提供者。

Precision Medicine Group 的业绩将计入该板块。其临床研究能力涵盖肿瘤学、罕见病与孤儿药以及细胞与基因疗法，而其市场准入和商业化服务补充了麦克森的生物制药服务平台。

处方技术解决方案板块

第三方物流和准入解决方案业务量增加带动营收增长 10% 至 15 亿美元，但被中心药房调配贡献下降所部分抵消。在包括预先授权服务在内的准入解决方案需求走强的推动下，营业利润增长 18% 至 3.07 亿美元。

该平台本季度新增了覆盖 58 个品牌的 67 个项目。麦克森表示，其支付方网络目前覆盖了美国 96% 的处方量。该板块还受益于 GLP-1 和非 GLP-1 相关活动，包括 7 月 1 日启动的 CMS Medicare GLP-1 Bridge 计划。

医用外科解决方案板块

延续性护理和门诊护理渠道的增长推动营收增长 5% 至 31 亿美元。营业利润下降 10% 至 2.25 亿美元，原因是门诊护理的产品组合不利，但被延续性护理的增长部分抵消。

管理层业绩指引

鉴于上半年表现强劲，管理层上调了 2027 财年调整后摊薄每股收益指引。

细分板块指引包括：

• 北美医药板块：营收增长率为 5%-9%，营业利润增长率为 14%-18%。
• 肿瘤与多专科板块：营收增长率为 20%-24%，营业利润增长率为 18%-22%。若扣除 2026 财年净收益，营业利润预计增长 22%-26%。
• 处方技术解决方案板块：营收增长率为 2.5%-6.5%，营业利润增长率为 11%-15%。
• 医用外科解决方案板块：营收增长率为 1%-6%，营业利润介于下降 4% 至持平之间。
• 总部费用：预计处于 5.80 亿-6.40 亿美元区间的高端。

该业绩展望包含了 Precision Medicine Group 预计为 2027 财年每股收益贡献的 0.10-0.20 美元（更偏向第四季度）。展望中未计入 Option Care Health 的贡献。

风险与关注领域

• 管理层预计下半年将加快在自动化、技术、业务增长和运营能力方面的投资。
• 处方技术解决方案板块可能因使用情况、产品上市、支付方调整以及项目需求变化而出现季度波动。在经历了强劲的初始需求后，CMS Medicare GLP-1 Bridge 计划的预先授权量已开始归于常态。
• 医用外科业务的表现仍易受产品组合以及年度高发疾病季的时间、严重程度和持续时间的影响。
• 2027 年 1 月可能实施的 340B 返利模式仍存在不确定性。管理层表示客户行为难以预测，但目前预计不会对麦克森产生实质性财务影响。
• 对 Option Care Health 的投资需获得股东和监管机构批准。麦克森将持有非经营性的少数股权，而 CD&R 将持有多数股权。
• 由于包括季度结算日落在星期几在内的时机因素，季度间的现金流可能存在差异。

分析师问答环节亮点

• Precision Medicine Group 经济效益：管理层将 PMG 描述为相比分销和 GPO 业务利润率更高的服务型业务。预期协同效应包括提高运营效率，以及为生物制药客户提供更广泛的临床试验和商业化能力。
• Option Care Health 战略：麦克森认为家庭与门诊输液是特药、罕见病以及细胞和基因疗法日益重要的渠道。该项投资将采用权益法核算，并在总部板块（Corporate）而非某个经营性业务板块中列报。
• 北美医药板块韧性：管理层将近期的增长归因于处方量、特药产品、GLP-1 药物、新客户拓展与续约，以及整个供应链生产率的提升。管理层强调，长期目标并非用于预测年度波动。
• 340B 政策：麦克森表示，公司通过多种渠道服务于合同药房、覆盖实体和制造商。管理层预计，在不同的政策出台结果下，潜在的处方需求及其分销服务的价值将保持完好。
• 整合方式：PMG 与麦克森现有资产重叠有限，但与美国肿瘤网络（U.S. Oncology Network）、Sarah Cannon 研究院以及现有生物制药服务形成协同互补。Option Care Health 将继续由 CD&R 进行日常管理，同时借助麦克森在特药和供应链方面的专长。

业绩电话会议完整文字实录

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完整财报电话会议逐字稿

管理层陈述

Operator

Welcome to McKesson's Second Quarter Fiscal 2027 Earnings Conference Call. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded.

At this time, I would like to turn the call over to Paula Adkison, SVP of Corporate Finance and Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Paula Adkison

Thank you, operator. Good afternoon, and welcome, everyone, to McKesson's Second Quarter Fiscal 2027 Earnings Call. Today, I'm joined by Brian Tyler, our Chair and Chief Executive Officer; and Kenny Cheung, our Chief Financial Officer. Brian will lead off, followed by Kenny, and then we will move to a question-and-answer session.

Today's discussion will include forward-looking statements such as forecasts about McKesson's operations and future results. Please refer to the cautionary statements in today's earnings release and presentation slides available on our website at investor.mckesson.com and to the Risk Factors section of our most recent annual and periodic SEC filings for additional information concerning risk factors that could cause our actual results to materially differ from those in our forward-looking statements. Information about non-GAAP financial measures that we will discuss during this webcast, including a reconciliation of those measures to GAAP results, can be found in today's earnings release and presentation slides. The presentation slides also include a summary of our results for the quarter and guidance assumptions.

With that, let me turn it over to Brian.

Brian Tyler

Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for joining our call. Today, we reported another strong quarter, reflecting continued momentum across our business and disciplined execution against our strategic priorities. Second quarter revenues increased 8% with growth across all segments, while adjusted earnings per diluted share increased 18% year-over-year. These results demonstrate the strength and resilience of McKesson's operating model, the momentum across our diversified healthcare platform and our continued focus on delivering sustainable long-term value for our customers and partners, and importantly, for our shareholders.

As a result of our strong performance and our confidence in the outlook for our business, we are raising our fiscal 2027 adjusted earnings per diluted share guidance to $45.60 to $46.40 from the previous range of $44.20 to $45. Our results continue to demonstrate the benefits of our strategic focus, differentiated capabilities and disciplined capital deployment. Across the enterprise, we remain focused on advancing our mission of improving health outcomes for all while executing against the strategic priorities that we believe will drive long-term sustainable growth.

Now let's discuss how we're translating these priorities into actions across the enterprise. I'll start with our people and culture, which remain foundational to everything we do. We continue to invest in experiences and programs that strengthen our culture and support engagement, development and well-being.

Recently, we launched Family Forward, a new employee resource group that fosters connection and supports employees with caregiving responsibilities at every stage of life. We now have 12 employee-led resource groups across the company, and I am proud of how these groups enrich our culture and advance inclusion for all members of Team McKesson. Our annual impact report published in July highlights additional examples of the progress we're making to advance health outcomes by supporting our communities, developing our people and enabling our partners to improve care for patients.

Building on a strong commitment to our mission and purpose, we continue to accelerate our enterprise strategy with a focus on strengthening our North American distribution business and advancing our growth platforms in oncology, multi-specialty and biopharma services. During the quarter, we were pleased to announce a strategic transaction that directly supports these priorities, our acquisition of Precision Medicine Group, which we closed this week. We're pleased to welcome PMG to McKesson as we advance our shared commitment to accelerating innovation and improving patient access to care.

Expanding access to clinical trials is an important element of our oncology strategy, connecting innovation in drug development with community-based practices where patients receive care. In 2022, we established our joint venture with Sarah Cannon Research Institute, bringing together the U.S. Oncology Network's provider reach and practice management expertise with SCRI's research infrastructure and clinical trial expertise to support these practices. Precision Medicine Group builds on this foundation, adding complementary clinical research expertise in oncology, rare and orphan diseases and cell and gene therapies. Its global footprint and experience conducting late-stage clinical trials broaden our ability to support clinical development and expand patient access to innovative therapies.

The acquisition also advances our biopharma services strategy. Precision Medicine Group's market access and commercialization services complement our existing access and affordability solutions, broadening the support we can provide to biopharma partners as they bring their therapies to market.

In addition, last month, we signed a definitive agreement to make a strategic investment in Option Care Health, the nation's largest independent provider of home and alternate site infusion services. As specialty therapies grow in importance and complexity, this transaction reflects our conviction that care will increasingly be delivered in lower-cost community settings at or closer to home. McKesson knows this shift well. For over 25 years, we have supported the U.S. Oncology Network and over 3,400 providers in delivering connected high-quality care in the community.

Option Care Health's clinical model and national infusion footprint across home and ambulatory sites are well aligned with these priorities. As a strategic investor, we look forward to bringing our specialty expertise to help broaden access to complex therapies and to support its continued growth. And we're pleased to partner with CD&R, which brings a strong track record of supporting companies and creating long-term value. CD&R will own a majority interest in Option Care Health at closing. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including approval by Option Care Health stockholders and the receipt of required regulatory approvals.

In our Oncology & Multispecialty platform, we are encouraged by strong market trends, supported by drug innovation and stable utilization. As new therapies come to market, our deep expertise in specialty distribution and specialty pharmacy, together with our strong connections across community-based care, position us well to enable access to these medications.

Within the oncology platform, we continue to reinforce our value to community-based providers by bringing together complementary capabilities, which include community-based practice management experience, clinical research expertise and data-enabled capabilities. As we welcome Precision Medicine Group, we're excited to build on this foundation and accelerate our strategy.

Within our retina and ophthalmology platform, we welcome Spectrum Vision Partners and its over 150 providers to the PRISM Vision Group, further expanding its footprint. This is another meaningful addition to our platform. We're encouraged by its continued strong performance, which demonstrates its compelling value proposition to providers and their patients. Across oncology and other specialty areas, our distribution capabilities data-enabled insights, clinical expertise and experience supporting providers allow us to create value for customers and improve patient access to care.

Within our biopharma services platform, we continue to see strong demand for solutions that improve medication access and affordability. As therapeutic innovation accelerates and the treatment landscape becomes more complex, our differentiated solutions are helping translate that innovation into meaningful access for patients. Our platform connects providers, pharmacies, payers and manufacturers through technology that's embedded in prescribing and dispensing workflows.

We continue to expand our payer network, which now includes payers that represent 96% of U.S. prescription volume. This connectivity enables us to simplify administrative processes and address financial barriers at scale, helping patients start and stay on therapy while supporting biopharma partners across their product life cycles.

The momentum across our biopharma services platforms continues to be broad-based. During the quarter, we added 67 new programs across 58 unique brands, representing a diversified portfolio of therapeutic areas in both access and affordability. We expanded connectivity with providers, with more of them exploring our automated solutions, including our recently introduced medical prior authorization capabilities. We also saw growth in services that provide dedicated reimbursement specialists to help providers navigate insurance coverage and reimbursement challenges, reinforcing the value of hands-on expertise alongside our automated solutions.

Looking ahead, we remain focused on leveraging technology and automation to enhance the functionality of our solutions and streamline workflows. By simplifying routine processes and complementing them with specialized expertise where greater support is needed, we can address a broad range of access and affordability barriers and strengthen the value we deliver to biopharma partners, providers and patients.

Let's turn to North American distribution. Our pharmaceutical distribution business continues to perform well, supported by stable market fundamentals, operational excellence and our differentiated customer value proposition. Recently, we announced an extension of our pharmaceutical distribution relationship with CVS Health. This agreement reflects the strength of our long-standing partnership of more than 25 years, the value of our distribution capabilities and our ability to support customers at scale with reliability, efficiency and service excellence. We value our relationship with customers across the healthcare ecosystem and remain focused on supporting their growth through consistent execution and the highest levels of service.

Across this segment, we continue to see strong momentum, reflecting our unwavering commitment to customers, the consistent delivery of high-quality service and a disciplined focus on operational excellence. This performance enables us to reinvest in the business, including our distribution network, supply chain capabilities and technology infrastructure, which further strengthen the reliability, efficiency and scale of our platform and position us to deliver sustainable long-term growth.

The strength of our business and our diversified capabilities position us well to drive continued growth amid evolving industry [ trends ] and a dynamic policy environment. We are committed to working closely with policymakers to advance thoughtful reforms that support patients and providers, expand access to care and improve health outcomes.

In closing, our strong second quarter results build on a strong record of execution and growth. We're pleased with the momentum of the underlying business, reinforcing our commitment to our strategic priorities. The Precision Medicine Group acquisition and our proposed investment in Option Care Health represents significant progress in expanding our capabilities and investing in areas of compelling long-term opportunity. Looking ahead, we're confident in our ability to deliver sustainable growth and long-term shareholder value.

With that, let me turn it over to Kenny.

Kenny Cheung

Thank you, Brian, and good afternoon, everyone. We delivered a strong second quarter, supported by broad-based growth across the enterprise. This quarter's performance builds on the momentum from last quarter, resulting in a strong first half of fiscal 2027 and reinforcing our confidence in the opportunities ahead.

Before I turn to our adjusted results, I want to highlight the two important transactions we announced recently. As Brian mentioned in his opening remarks, we are pleased to have completed the acquisition of Precision Medicine Group for approximately $2.25 billion. The business will report within our Oncology & Multispecialty segment, further expanding the breadth of solutions we provide across our oncology, multispecialty and biopharma services. We expect the transaction to be accretive and reinforce our long-term growth profile.

We estimate the acquisition will contribute approximately $0.10 to $0.20 of adjusted earnings per diluted share in fiscal '27, with contributions more heavily weighted towards the fourth quarter. By the end of year 3, we estimate accretion of approximately $1.60 to $1.80. We funded the transaction with cash, reflecting the strength and flexibility of our balance sheet.

Additionally, we announced that we have entered into a definitive agreement to invest approximately $1.4 billion for a 49% minority interest in Option Care Health. The transaction aligns with our strategy to expand access to innovative therapies and our commitment to advance care in lower-cost community settings. The transaction is expected to close during the first half of calendar year '27, subject to customary closing conditions, including approval by Option Care Health's shareholders and the receipt of required regulatory approvals. Our current outlook does not contemplate contributions from Option Care Health.

Together, these investments reinforce our disciplined approach for capital deployment. First, we prioritize growth opportunities that align with our strategy, complement our portfolio and meet our financial criteria for attractive returns and long-term value creation. Second, we remain committed to returning capital to shareholders through a combination of share repurchases and a growing dividend. Lastly, we maintain a strong balance sheet supported by robust free cash flow generation and liquidity. This enables us to continue investing in and growing the business. Unless otherwise noted, my comments today will refer to our adjusted results.

Let me turn to our second quarter consolidated performance. Revenues increased 8% to $111 billion, with growth across all 4 operating segments. Growth was driven by higher prescription volumes in North American Pharmaceutical and continued strength in Oncology & Multispecialty. This was partially offset by lower contributions from branded pharmaceuticals and continued branded to generic conversions.

Gross profit increased 10% to $3.9 billion, driven by growth in North American Pharmaceutical, Oncology & Multispecialty and Prescription Technology Solutions. The increase reflects higher prescription volumes and continued strength in specialty as we leverage our scale and distribution capabilities. Operating expenses increased 8% to $2.1 billion, reflecting higher expenses to support growth across the business. We remain focused on driving productivity and strengthening our network while maintaining expense discipline and investing to enhance how we serve our customers and drive future growth.

We demonstrated strong operating leverage during the quarter, with operating expenses as a percentage of gross profit improving by approximately 141 basis points year-over-year. Operating profit increased 13% to $1.9 billion, driven by North American Pharmaceutical, Prescription Technology Solutions and Oncology & Multispecialty. Interest expense was $103 million, reflecting financing activities completed in support of the planned Medical-Surgical Solutions separation.

The effective tax rate in the second quarter was 17.8%, which included net discrete tax benefits of $105 million. As a reminder, our effective tax rate can vary quarter-to-quarter, driven by timing and the amount of discrete tax items. Diluted weighted average shares were 116.7 million, a decrease of 6%, reflecting continued share repurchase activity. Adjusted earnings per diluted share increased 18% to $11.68, driven by strong operating performance across North American Pharmaceutical, Oncology & Multispecialty and Prescription Technology Solutions segment and the benefit of a lower share count. Excluding the prior year contribution from the $25 million Norway divestiture and the net gains of $51 million from the sale of an equity investment and market positions within the U.S. Oncology Network, adjusted earnings per diluted share increased 24%.

Let me now turn to our segment results. Starting with North American Pharmaceutical segment. Revenues were $91.4 billion, an increase of 6%, driven by higher prescription volumes, including growth in specialty products and GLP-1 education. This was partially offset by lower contributions from branded pharmaceuticals and continued branded to generic conversions. Lower branded pharmaceutical pricing as a result of wholesale acquisition cost decreases in January 2026 reduced year-over-year revenue growth by approximately 4%.

Consistent with prior periods, these pricing changes did not have a meaningful impact on the segment operating profit. Revenues from GLP-1 medication distribution were $16 billion in the quarter, an increase of approximately $3 billion or 26% versus the prior year. Sequentially, GLP-1 revenues increased 8%. Demand and volumes across the category remains strong, with quarter-to-quarter variability based on payer dynamics and patient utilization.

Operating profit increased 22% to $1 billion. Growth was driven by specialty distribution, including health system and strategic accounts. Our distribution platforms support a broad evolving portfolio of products, including increasingly complex therapies. Our reach and expertise allows us to effectively support these products as demand continues to grow.

Turning to Oncology & Multispecialty. Revenues were $15 billion, an increase of 24%, driven by growth from specialty product distribution and higher volumes across our provider platforms. We saw strong utilization within provider solutions, including distribution of Oncology & Multispecialty products. Operating profit increased 8% to $427 million. As a reminder, the prior year period included net gains of $51 million within the U.S. Oncology Network. Excluding the net gains, operating profit decreased by 23%.

Growth was driven by provider solutions businesses, including GPO services and higher specialty distribution volumes. We expanded our provider platforms through growth within existing practices and new provider additions. Utilization trends remain solid, with the same-store patient visits reaching their highest level in recent quarters across our networks.

In Prescription Technology Solutions, revenues were $1.5 billion, an increase of 10%, driven by higher prescription volume in third-party logistics and access solutions. This was partially offset by lower contributions from hub dispensing services. Operating profit increased 18% to $307 million, driven by higher demand across our access solutions, including prior authorization services.

We continue to see volume growth across services for both GLP-1 and non-GLP-1 medications, including contributions from the CMS Medicare GLP-1 Bridge program, which started on July 1. We also saw solid performance across other therapeutic categories as we added new brands and expanded existing programs across the platform.

Our solutions support biopharma partners across the life cycle of a product. As therapies move from launch to broader adoption and maturity, our platform is well positioned to support the evolving need for access, affordability and adherence solutions.

Turning to Medical-Surgical Solutions. Revenues were $3.1 billion, an increase of 5%, driven by growth across extended and ambulatory care channels. This represents continued sequential improvement in revenue growth trends, supported by higher volumes across multiple product categories, including specialty pharmaceuticals. Operating profit decreased 10% to $225 million, driven by lower contributions from the ambulatory care channel due to product mix, partially offset by growth in the extended care channel. We are pleased with the growth in the extended care channel, supported by higher demand across several product categories.

Wrapping up our review with Corporate. Corporate expenses were $147 million, a decrease of 3%, reflecting disciplined expense management, partially offset by continued investment in technology capabilities to support the business.

Let me turn to cash and capital allocation. We ended the quarter with $6.5 billion in cash and cash equivalents and total liquidity of approximately $11.5 billion, which is above the minimum threshold. Our balance sheet remains robust and provides ample capacity to support our strategic priorities.

During the second quarter, we delivered free cash flow of $2.9 billion, including $123 million in capital expenditures. Our strong cash generation provides capacity to reinvest in the business, including technology, infrastructure and operational capabilities. We also maintain flexibility to continue to execute our capital allocation priorities, including share repurchases. During the quarter, we returned $990 million to shareholders through a combination of share repurchases and dividend payments. We remain disciplined in deploying capital towards opportunities that offer attractive returns and long-term shareholder value.

Turning now to our fiscal '27 outlook. We delivered strong results through the first half of the year, including second quarter performance that exceeded our expectations. Based on these results, our outlook for the remainder of the year, we are raising our fiscal '27 adjusted earnings per diluted share outlook to $45.60 to $46.40.

We entered the second half with confidence in the fundamentals of our business and our ability to execute against our priorities. Our updated outlook implies adjusted EPS growth of 17% to 19%. Excluding the impact of the Norway divestiture and the net gains within the U.S. Oncology Network in fiscal '26, our outlook implies adjusted EPS growth of 19% to 21%, which is well above our long-term growth target of 13% to 16%. For fiscal '27, we anticipate revenue growth of 6% to 10% and operating profit growth of 12% to 16%.

Let me provide additional context on our segment outlook. In North American Pharmaceutical, we anticipate revenue growth of 5% to 9% and operating profit growth of 14% to 18%. The outlook reflects broad-based strength across the business, including strong performance in the second quarter. We anticipate the momentum will be supported by stable market trends, including growth in prescription volume, increasing demand for specialty and branded medications, including GLP-1s, and benefits of improved productivity, driving operational leverage, underpinned by disciplined execution across sourcing and distribution. The outlook also contemplates continued impact on segment revenue from lower branded pharmaceutical pricing following wholesale acquisition cost decreases.

Looking ahead to the second half of the fiscal year, we anticipate accelerated investments focused on enhancing our capabilities and supporting business growth. Additionally, the outlook reflects our continued strong relationship with customers, including customer wins and renewals of existing relationships.

Turning to Oncology & Multispecialty. We anticipate revenue growth of 20% to 24% and operating profit growth of 18% to 22%. Excluding the net gains of $51 million in fiscal '26, our outlook implies operating profit growth of 22% to 26%. The outlook is supported by provider solutions, including specialty distribution and GPO services, and our broader portfolio of Oncology & Multispecialty offerings.

We continue to see expansion across our provider platforms through both new additions and growth within existing practices. Within our retina and ophthalmology platform, the PRISM Vision Group recently welcomed Spectrum Vision Partners, further strengthening its presence in the Mid-Atlantic region. We anticipate some variability from quarter-to-quarter, including investments weighted towards the earlier part of the second half.

In Prescription Technology Solutions, we anticipate revenue growth of 2.5% to 6.5% and operating profit growth of 11% to 15%. We expect continued growth in access and affordability solutions, supported by demand across GLP-1 medications and other therapeutic categories. As products move through their life cycle, the type and level of support required could change. This creates opportunities for onboarding of new programs and expanding the services provided through existing relationships. These dynamics can also create quarterly variability based on utilization, product launch timing, shift in payer landscape and changes in program requirements.

For example, we are in the early phases of supporting the CMS Medicare GLP-1 Bridge program. Following initial strong demand, prior authorization volumes have begun to normalize, and we will continue to monitor trends as the program progresses. Looking to the second half, the fourth quarter historically benefits from contribution from annual recertification programs, and we anticipate a similar cadence this year.

Moving now to MedSurg. We anticipate revenue growth of 1% to 6% and operating profit to range from a 4% decline to flat. Our outlook reflects the breadth of the business across alternate sites of care, including inventory and extended care, consumer health and at-home care. To support future growth, we implemented initiatives across the business focused on driving growth opportunities, building the commercial pipeline and driving operating efficiency. We expect the initiatives implemented during the first half to support growth and performance through the remainder of the year.

Our second half results can also be impacted by the annual illness season. As a reminder, each illness season is unique: the timing, severity and duration [ that varies ] from year to year. In Corporate, we anticipate expenses at the high end of the $580 million to $640 million range.

As a reminder, we completed our exit from Norway in January. In fiscal '26, the Norway business contributed $74 million of operating profit, including $28 million in the fiscal third quarter.

Turning now to items below the line. We expect interest expense to be in the high end of $380 million to $420 million, reflecting higher borrowing rates associated with financing activities. We expect income attributable to noncontrolling interest of $290 million to $320 million, which includes the minority ownership interest by Apollo in our MedSurg business.

We anticipate a full year effective tax rate of 18% to 19%. We expect quarterly tax rate phasing to be broadly similar to fiscal '26, with a higher tax rate in the third quarter than the fourth quarter due to the timing of discrete tax items.

Wrapping up our outlook with cash flow and capital deployment. We anticipate free cash flow of approximately $4.5 billion to $4.9 billion. As a reminder, cash flow can vary from quarter-to-quarter based on timing, including day of the week at quarter end.

We remain disciplined on capital allocation. We expect to repurchase approximately $5 billion of shares during fiscal '27. Through the first half, we purchased approximately $3.4 billion of shares at an average price of approximately $818 per share, completing a significant portion of our planned full year share repurchases. We estimate diluted weighted average shares outstanding to be in the range of 115.5 million to 117.5 million.

In closing, I am pleased with the performance through the first half of the year and the progress we are making across the business. We entered the second half with strong momentum, clear priorities and confidence in our outlook. We remain focused on execution and delivering long-term value for our shareholders.

With that, let's go to Q&A.

Operator

[Operator Instructions] And our first question will come from Glen Santangelo with Barclays.

分析师问答

Unknown Analyst

Just two quick ones for me. Brian, Kenny, I'm trying to understand these two acquisitions you did, Precision Medicine Group and Option Care Health. I'm just trying to -- I want to make sure I'm clear on how these businesses will weave through the reporting segments of the company and the potential impact that, that may have on your margins.

And as I think to model calendar '27, not that you want to give any forward guidance, I'm just trying to think through these ancillary services that you're acquiring? And then secondly, as we have a whole slate of biosimilar set to be launched here in the next 12 months, I'm just trying to think about the puts and takes on your margins across your 2 segments, Onco and Multispecialty and Prescription Technologies?

Brian Tyler

Why don't I start by maybe reviewing the strategic rationale for these and then Kenny, you can comment on the question about where reports and the margin profiles. So Precision Medicine Group, which we closed earlier this week, we're very excited about. It's really composed of 2 different business segments, [ Precision for Medicine ], which provides global clinical research, translational science and laboratory capabilities with deep oncology experience and trials active in more than 30 countries. We really see that as being highly complementary to our oncology strategy, complementing USON, the joint venture we have with SCRI. And some of the site management and CRO light-ish skills that SCRI had is now really accelerated with the acquisition of [ Precision for Medicine ]. And so as we think about the oncology strategy holistically, we think this is a really, really complementary piece to the assets that we currently have.

And then the other side of Precision is Precision AQ, which is a leading market access, health economics and commercialization services platform, which we think is highly complementary to our access and affordability capabilities and just gives us a broader portfolio or suites of solutions to support our biopharma partners as they commercialize over the life cycle of their products. So that was kind of the strategic rationale. It's really anchored in our 2 core growth strategies of oncology and serving biopharma. Both of these businesses will report through the O&M segment. And [ Kenny ], would you like to comment?

Kenny Cheung

Yes. So for PMG, just a couple of things on this one. So as Brian mentioned, very pleased to acquire PMG. We anticipate the transaction to be accretive in the current fiscal year and beyond. Purchase price of roughly $2.25 billion. From a financing source standpoint, this is all funded with cash, given the strength of our balance sheet.

Reporting standpoint, PMG will be reported within the O&M segment. From a financial profile standpoint, we estimate the acquisition will contribute approximately $0.10 to $0.20 of adjusted EPS in fiscal '27. And by the end of year 3, we estimate accretion of approximately $1.60 to $1.80.

And like other prior M&A, the way to think about this is that we will anticipate a ramp-up in synergies as we continue to integrate the business within our platform. Obviously, there will be cost synergies assumed. But what Brian and I and the whole team are really excited about is the ability for us to enhance our clinical trial capabilities, serve even greater baskets of biopharma companies across more stages of clinical trial, being able to be part of a global platform and just overall strengthen the value proposition for a biopharma company.

Brian Tyler

And then to the margin profile question. If you remember at our Investor Day a couple of years ago, we laid out kind of on the left side of the slide, distribution and GPO with lower margin. As you progress into data services and SCRI, those tend to be higher margin, more complementary, more higher-margin businesses, and we would put PMG more on the right side of the chart.

The second one you asked about was Option Care. I'll go quickly, just in -- being conscious of time. Let's just remind everybody, this is a minority investment. We really are excited about this investment for a couple of reasons. As we think about the innovation pipeline, how specialty is evolving, we want to be an important player represented in all growth segments. And so given our expertise and scale in specialty, this made sense from that avenue.

We also have a very deep conviction about community-based care and providing care close to the home, and in this case, even potentially in the home. And so as we thought our experience managing assets that are community practice-based and our experience in specialty and then the CD&R capabilities that come with it, we think this is just a good setup for us to complement the assets that we have. But this will be recorded under the equity method. So not really in any of the segment margin profiles.

Kenny Cheung

Yes, just the double click on the equity method. So from a geography standpoint, this will show up as other income within AOP. And from a BU standpoint, as Brian mentioned, not within the BU, but it will be reported within the Corporate segment.

Paula Adkison

Next question, please.

Operator

And next will be Brian Tanquilut with Jefferies.

Brian Tanquilut

Congrats on the quarter. Maybe just a follow-up on the Option Care comments. I know you have a call option on it to acquire the remainder of the business at some point. Maybe, Brian, as we think about the strategy there, I hear your comments on specialty. But is there an overlay there for the oncology business that you're contemplating? Or maybe a different way of asking it strategically, other than just bringing incremental revenue and access points. I mean, how are you thinking about overlaying that potentially eventually?

Brian Tyler

Well, we have capabilities at McKesson, not just in oncology, but in really all specialties, in rare and orphan therapies and cell and gene therapies. And as we think about the future of how those markets evolve, we think having -- ultimately having access to our capabilities to provide those in ambulatory infusion more community-based settings and in the home is going to be a growing and increasingly important channel. And so we just view this as very complementary to the channels and assets and reach that we have today.

Paula Adkison

Next question, please.

Operator

And next will be Elizabeth Anderson with Evercore.

Elizabeth Anderson

Given the outperformance in North American Pharma, obviously growing well in excess of the long-term guide there, how do we think about the sustainability of that over the long term? It's obviously been several -- a while of this. So we think about sort of where the longer-term drivers of upside to that number might be? Or is this something that you think, okay, that's great, but there are potentially some other things to think about for fiscal '28 and beyond?

Kenny Cheung

Yes, I can start. So maybe first, let me get into the drivers of Q2, helping you understand what drove the 22% AOP growth. And I'll talk more about how we're thinking about the rest of the year leaking into '28 as well. So as you think about Q2, we're pleased with the strong performance of NAPD. Revenue grew 6%, driven by a few things. One is just broad-based growth, which included higher prescription volume, growth in specialty products and GLP-1s. And just the triple click control GLP-1 was roughly $16 billion of revenue for us, increased $3 billion, was 26% year-on-year and 8% sequentially versus last quarter. We did have some [ what ] declines expense in the quarter. However, as we mentioned before, it impacts more on the revenue line and less on the operating profit line.

Speaking of operating profit, it increased 22%, driven by growth in the distribution of specialty products, the health systems and [ strategic costs ]. So overall, it was broad-based growth. So that's the beauty of our business. When you parlay a strong, healthy, broad-based growth with continued operational excellence and productivity within our supply chain ecosystem, we saw really nice operating leverage close to 150 bps, which was led our North America Pharmaceutical business.

So overall, we're really pleased with the growth, the momentum and the durable profile of this business. Because I think through the second half of the fiscal year, the outlook reflects continued broad-based strength across the business. We anticipate momentum to be supported by stable market trends, including prescription volume, increasing demand for specialty and branded medication, including GLP-1s, [ and all broad ] continued health of our supply chain.

It also incorporates a couple of other things, investments in the second half of the year. We are continuing to focus on automation, technology and business growth. And also, our outlook reflects continued strong relationship with our customers. So our outlook includes wins, renewals with existing relationships. As we mentioned earlier, we did renew our CVS contract. And that term starts in October 1. It runs through June of 2032, and that is also baked into our outlook guidance as well. So overall, we're pleased with the performance of our business.

Paula Adkison

Next question, please.

Operator

And next will be Lisa Gill with JPMorgan.

Lisa Gill

I just want to follow up on a few things here. When I think about the North American Pharmaceutical performance and you highlighted that the specialty tech health system, one, how are you thinking about potential changes around 340B? I know we had an election that happened yesterday, and perhaps some things are off the table. But how could that potentially impact the amount of volume that you see there?

And kind of dovetailing to that, Brian, you talked about a dynamic policy environment. Can you maybe just update us on any of your thoughts now that we have an idea of what Congress is going to look like going into '27? Any changes that you're anticipating that could impact either side of your business?

Brian Tyler

Yes. All right. Let me start with your first question on 340B. We obviously provide distribution services to contract pharmacies. We support covered entities. We support the biopharma manufacturers themselves. We also, as you know, Lisa, have a range of 340B-related services, including consulting and software to help manage the supply chain optimization.

As we think about the potential for January 2027 implementation of a rebate model, and you've also got OPPS, I think the difficult thing to -- for us to kind of contemplate in this moment is how are these going to be effectuated or implemented, how are customers going to think about new choices. In the case of the rebate model, it's probably a cash, more of a cash issue. So we'll have to work with our customers, as we always do. We'll work with them to administratively support what we need to administratively support. We'll work with them to make sure that they continue to have the success they need to have to be viable.

But we really don't know what their response will be in terms of behaviorally trying to grow 340B, trying to migrate away. Does 340B scripts go to the community or do they stay where they currently are? The thing for us is we are represented in all channels. And what we know is the script will still be there, and we'll be ready to receive it and supportive in whatever channel we can.

We're actively tracking this. We're very engaged. Depending on where the policy ultimately lands, we will use the capabilities of our company to help navigate both on behalf of the customers and on behalf of ourselves.

To your bigger question of now that I've had 12 hours to absorb the election results, I don't think my view of any of the policy discussion is different than it would have been last quarter. It is a dynamic environment. We know that cost and quality and access and transparencies are going to still be issues of high interest in Capitol Hill from our regulators and our legislators. And we will be part of those conversations, now building new relationships, educating new members, advocating on behalf of what we think is important to helping healthcare, address the challenges that we have, advocating for community-based providers because they're affordable and more accessible.

And we'll continue to build those relationships. And just like we have always done, we've always worked with both sides of the [ house ]. We've always worked to try to figure out how we do the right thing for the healthcare system, and that's what we'll continue to do.

Kenny Cheung

Just a couple of things on 340B from my end. Regardless of how 340B plays out, the value of our distribution services remains intact. We'll continue to focus on providing our customers with the highest quality of service and support them with our products and portfolio.

And this is an important piece. We will get fairly compensated for the fair value of service we provide. At this time, we do not anticipate any material financial impact to our business. And as Brian said, we'll watch this very, very carefully.

Paula Adkison

Next question, please.

Operator

And next will be Kevin Caliendo with UBS.

Kevin Caliendo

I'm going to take Elizabeth's question and ask it a little bit differently, which is, your LRP versus what you've done over the last year, 2 years or so, seems comically low. So maybe instead of asking what drove you to getting to, in this quarter, north of 20% EBIT growth, maybe, what needs to happen for you to actually grow North American Pharma inside the LRP? Like what's embedded there for that versus the market growth or whatever? Because it just seems that your ability to beat that is tremendously easy.

Kenny Cheung

Yes. So I can start. So when you refer to the LRP, obviously, we're referring to the long-term targets. So I've reviewed our long-term business plan. I feel confident about the business fundamentals and our ability to execute against these long-term targets. For EPS, it was roughly 13% to 16%, just to remind everybody.

Looking at the long term, we anticipate the growth will be driven by the strength of our leading platforms in oncology, multi-specialty and biopharma solutions and supported by operating leverage and efficient capital deployment. We are well positioned to capture long-term growth through disciplined execution of strategic priorities and sustainable operational momentum. I just want to remind you that our long-term targets are long term in nature and not an indicator of short-term variations that incur -- that can occur within the business year-to-year.

Brian Tyler

Yes. I just want to reflect on -- I think the performance we're enjoying now is an accumulation of years of focus on our strategic priorities, years of investment in technologies, whether that's physical distribution or robotic process automation or now large language models in AI that are translating from gross profit leverage ratios that Kenny reviewed. And I think it's just reflective of the great alignment and understanding of the team of how we need to show up every day for our customers, how we win new customers, win customers that are winning support those customers in a way that enables them to be successful, which reinforces our own success.

Paula Adkison

Next question, please.

Operator

And next will be Allen Lutz with Bank of America.

Allen Lutz

I really appreciate the color so far. One for Brian on the capital deployment strategy. As we think about Precision and we think about Option Care, these are new businesses for you relative to what the capital allocation strategy has been around M&A, adding MSO assets and even added Spectrum to PRISM a few days ago. Can you talk about the relative complexity of integration of PMG and Option Care relative to what we've seen over the past couple of years, growing that U.S. oncology business, growing the retina business? Is there a delta there? Would love any perspective.

Brian Tyler

Yes. It's a really great question. First, I would say, parts of the Precision Medicine Group business are new to us, like the CRO component. They are highly adjacent to businesses that we're already in, and they are highly relevant because of their focus on oncology to our oncology strategy.

The biopharma services side of that business are natural adjacencies to the businesses that we're already in. And so there's not, per se there, a bunch of integration as much as it is, we now have more solutions that we can put in our bag to offer biopharma manufacturers. We think we have a great opportunity -- I'm not going to say to integrate, but to complement the SCRI capabilities and the PMG capabilities to improve, reimagine, make more efficient and usable and easy, the process of getting community-based providers into clinical trials and allowing their patients to benefit from those therapies.

So we'll be very thoughtful about how we "integrate the business." But these are highly complementary businesses with very little overlap, but complementarity to the assets that we have. So we're very excited. We think -- I would just remind you on the Option Care side, we are the minority nonoperating partner. So there will be years where this is really under the stewardship of CD&R. We'll bring our knowledge, expertise in specialty and just understanding of supply chain obviously help that business, but we'll be relying on them to run it day-to-day.

Kenny Cheung

Yes. On Option Care, CD&R is a strong operating partner. We think Option Care is a platform, and it helps having a partner solely focus on strategic investments and growth. And that will be beneficial for us. We will clearly have a voice at the table as well. There'll be proper and appropriate governance. But it really gives an opportunity to grow the business with a strong operating partner that has a lot of experience, while we, as McKesson can also focus on our own [ beating ] pillars as well as Oncology & Multispecialty and biopharma services as well. So it's really a win-win proposition.

Paula Adkison

Last question, please.

Operator

Certainly. And that question will come from Michael Cherny with Leerink Partners.

Unknown Analyst

This is [ Joel Findlay ] on for Mike we look to hear you expand a bit on the Option Care deal rationale. Should we think of this as an operating partnership with CD&R where you could come in and do something on procurement and contracting and drive value? Or is this primarily an equity method investment? And are there currently any supplier arrangements between McKesson and Option Care? And would that be an opportunity for you in future years?

Brian Tyler

First, the Option Care transaction has not closed. So we are still awaiting approval from their shareholders, as well as the regulatory agencies. So there are no interfaces ongoing today. We do envision this as a CD&R-run business with the benefits of all the resources and knowledge that McKesson has and can bring to bear around specialty pharmaceuticals, providing care in community-based settings, et cetera.

And so we really like the future trajectory of community and home-based care. We like the future trajectory of specialty. I think as Kenny said, this allows us to germinate a business outside of the day-to-day operating requirements that have been delivering the results that you've seen us delivering. And so I very much think of this as incubating future growth platforms highly adjacent to our core strategy and supporting our long-term growth algorithm well into the future.

Great questions. I appreciate everybody taking time to join us. There's a lot going on in the world today that we're all aware of. Look, I'm very pleased with the results that McKesson delivered in our fiscal second quarter, they were very strong. Our strategy is working. Our execution is strong. I'm confident in our ability to continue to deliver long-term sustainable growth for our shareholders.

This does not happen without Team McKesson. So I want to thank them for their continued dedication to advancing our mission. They're unwavering in their commitment to our customers and to our customers' patients and to each other. And they are the foundation for all of the success we will continue to have. So thanks, everybody. I hope you have a great night.

Operator

Thank you for joining today's conference call. You may now disconnect, and have a great day.