Woonsocket-based CVS Caremark Corp. said yesterday third-quarter profit more than doubled after the $27-billion purchase of pharmacy-benefits manager Caremark RX this year.

CVS raised its 2007 profit and sales forecasts, which may miss some analysts’ projections. Net income climbed to $689.5 million, or 45 cents a share, the company said. Revenue in the three months through Sept. 29 jumped 83 percent, trailing estimates.

The drugstore chain bought Caremark in March to add mail-order pharmacies, and the purchase reduced earnings by 1 cent in the quarter. CVS also acquired health clinics that can offer medical care to customers, helping the company narrow the gap with Walgreen Co., the largest U.S. drugstore chain by sales.

The company’s “results confirm the fundamental health of both of CVS’ businesses as well as the early strategic wisdom of putting the two together,” John Heinbockel, a Goldman, Sachs & Co. analyst, said. He has a “buy” rating on the shares.

Profit beat the 44-cent average estimate of analysts by 1 cent a share. Revenue climbed to $20.5 billion, short of the $20.6 billion predicted by analysts. A year earlier, CVS earned net income of $284.2 million, or 33 cents per share.

CVS yesterday boosted its full-year per-share profit forecast to a range of $1.89 to $1.92, from a previous high of $1.91. Analysts project net income of $1.90, based on the average of 18 estimates surveyed by Bloomberg.

Revenue for the year may rise 70 percent to 75 percent, CVS chief financial officer David Rickard said yesterday on a call. Sales at the low end of the company’s range may trail the average analysts’ projection of $76.4 billion. In 2006, the drugstore chain had revenue of $43.8 billion.

CVS shares declined 63 cents, or 1.5 percent, to $41.03 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. It was the biggest decline in almost two weeks as U.S. stock indexes fell. The shares rose 20 percent since the March 22 Caremark purchase. Walgreen shares dropped 18 percent in the same period.

CVS benefited from demand for generic versions of drugs such as the sleeping pill Ambien. Generics are more profitable for CVS because it can negotiate better prices when several companies sell the same pill.

Sales at CVS stores open at least a year rose 5 percent in the quarter, the company said last month. Pharmacy revenue increased 4.3 percent and sales of non-pharmacy goods climbed 6.5 percent. October same-store sales advanced 4.6 percent, it said yesterday in a separate statement.

At the Caremark unit, revenue was up 5.7 percent to $10.7 billion. Mail-order sales, which account for 39 percent of the division’s revenue, climbed 7.9 percent, and retail sales increased 4.2 percent.

Combining CVS and Caremark will save about $660 million in 2008, CVS chief executive officer Thomas Ryan said on the call.

“Merger synergies continue to exceed expectations,” Heinbockel said in a note.

CVS had said the joined companies would reduce costs by $500 million a year and boost the drugstore chain’s annual revenue by at most $1 billion starting in 2008.

Walgreen last month reported its first profit drop in almost a decade as expenses climbed and earnings from generic drugs declined. That day, Walgreen stock plunged the most in at least 27 years.

“Walgreen’s always had the premium multiple,” Jack Kaplan, who helps manage $1.6 billion at Carret Asset Management in New York, including CVS shares, said Tuesday. “Finally someone said CVS is the new market leader, they are the biggest one in the industry, they are the ones that deserve the bigger multiple.”

CVS’ share price is about 22 times its earnings, compared with Walgreen’s 19 times, the first time CVS’ multiple has exceeded Walgreen’s since 1997.

In the quarter, CVS ran more than 6,200 retail pharmacy stores. It purchased MinuteClinic last year, and plans to have about 450 clinics across 25 states by year’s end. The drugstore chain expects to eventually have as many as 2,500 offices where physician assistants examine patients with minor ailments.

Of the 22 analysts who track CVS stock, 19 rate it a “buy” and three say “hold.”