Woonsocket-based CVS Caremark Corp.’s stock fell the most in almost seven months yesterday after the drugstore chain posted second-quarter revenue that missed analysts’ estimates.

Sales rose 2.1 percent to $21.1 billion from $20.7 billion, short of the $21.5-billion average estimate of 14 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News. According to Thomson Financial, analysts predicted $21.41 billion in revenue, excluding one-time items.

The shares fell $2.07, or 5.4 percent, to $36.50 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading, the biggest decline since Jan. 3. The shares have dropped 8 percent this year, heading for their first annual decrease since 2002.

Revenue at the division that manages drug benefits for companies increased about 1 percent. The unit posted gross profit of $849.9 million, trailing the $891-million estimate of Meredith Adler, an analyst at Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. in New York, and lower than a year ago.

“I think people were impatient for growth at the pharmacy-benefits division, purchased last year,” she said yesterday. “The retail was really good in this environment,” said Adler, who rates the shares “overweight.”

Second-quarter net income jumped 7.1 percent to $774.8 million, or 53 cents a share, from $723.6 million, or 47 cents, a year earlier, the company said in a statement. Excluding one-time costs, earnings matched the average estimate of analysts. Pharmacy sales increased 4.9 percent in the quarter.

CVS reiterated its full-year forecast of $2.44 to $2.50 a share, excluding some costs. Eighteen analysts estimate $2.46, on average.

Investors may be comparing the pharmacy-benefit division’s performance to Express Scripts Inc., the third-largest U.S. manager of drug benefits, and Medco Health Solutions Inc., the largest, Lehman’s Adler said. In the past week, both have reported profits exceeding analysts’ estimates and raised their forecasts. A customer-loyalty card will help CVS weather slowing consumer spending, Adler said.

The company’s Caremark division is the second-largest pharmacy benefits manager. CVS lost a $2-billion contract to Medco last year, CVS chief financial officer David Rickard said yesterday.

The division “is doing just fine, but it is at the level that it’s at,” he said.

On the retail side, CVS has won customers from other drugstores, including Rite Aid Corp., Rickard said. Customers are shopping closer to home and using the company’s loyalty cards, he said.

CVS has more than 6,300 stores in the United States, compared with about 6,800 for Walgreen and 5,000 for Rite Aid Corp.

“So long as gasoline stays pretty high, that’s going to be a contributor to our success” because people want to shop closer to home, Rickard said. Health and beauty “are doing quite well. So long as that’s the case, we’re in pretty good shape.”

CVS’ quarterly drugstore sales rose 4.6 percent to $11.77 billion, and pharmacy services sales edged up 1 percent to $10.66 billion, the company said in a conference call.

Same-store sales, or sales at locations open at least one year, grew 3.7 percent from the same period a year earlier at the CVS/pharmacy business. Front-end same-store sales grew 1.8 percent. The results are considered a key measurement of retailer health.

In its conference call, CVS said same-store sales improved further in July, with CVS/pharmacy same-store sales up 4.5 percent and front-end sales up 3.5 percent compared to the same period last year.

Higher enrollment in the Medicare Part D business helped increase retail network claims 2.7 percent, to 136.3 million.

The company said some of its Easter sales shifted into the first quarter because the holiday occurred in March this year instead of April. While it said greater sales of generic drugs hurt total pharmacy sales, increased prescriptions of those drugs increased its margins, and also helped the Caremark pharmacy benefits management business.

Mail service claims fell 18.9 percent from last year, when CVS was handling mail orders for the Federal Employees Health Benefit Plan. CVS’ contract with the health plan expired on Dec. 31.

But CVS said mail-order revenue will improve as contracts with new clients go into effect. The company it has gained more than 50 contracts for Caremark, with total revenue of more than $4.3 billion over their first year. More than 30 percent of that revenue comes from the mail-order business, while recently expired contracts, such as a pact with Coventry Health Care Inc., contained little mail-order business.

The company said it expects an adjusted profit of 68 cents per share in the third quarter, and revenue is expected to rise to $21.11 billion to $21.52 billion — up between 3 and 5 percent from the third quarter of last year.

Analysts predict 61 cents per share in profit, but they predict $21.4 billion in revenue, which is mostly higher than CVS’ outlook.

With Associated Press reports