The stock’s current valuation looks steep, but for a patient holder, the price tag on future earnings tells a very different story.

At a glance, CVS Health (CVS) stock looks expensive. Trading at about $105.91, its trailing twelve months price-to-earnings ratio sits at a lofty 46.0. For many investors, that’s where the analysis stops.

But that’s the price on last year’s performance. Look two years out, and the picture changes completely. On the earnings analysts expect by 2027, that same $105.91 share price represents a multiple of just 12.6 times. That’s a 73% discount from today’s trailing multiple, a compression that happens on its own if the company’s earnings grow into the price. For a patient holder, you are…