Saturday, May 7, 2011

Insurers | Insurer WellCare’s 1st-quarter Earnings Soar, Helped In Part By Medicare Part …


TAMPA, Fla. – WellCare Health Plans Inc. mentioned Friday its first-quarter gain more than tripled as the supervision illness insurance provider saw a large membership gain in Medicare medication drug skeleton compared to final year, when enrolment fell primarily due to selling sanctions from the sovereign government.
The Tampa, Fla., firm warranted $21.3 million, or 50 cents per share, in the 3 months that finished Mar 31. That compares with gain of $6.4 million, or 15 cents per share, in the same entertain of 2010. Adjusted net income for 2011′s initial entertain was 66 cents per share.
Revenue climbed 9 per cent to $1.47 billion.
The opening trounced Wall Street expectations. Analysts surveyed by FactSet expected, on average, gain of 13 cents per share on $1.45 billion in revenue.
Company shares soared 9.4 per cent, or $4, to $46.44 in midday trading.
WellCare moreover lifted its 2011 gain forecast. It right away expects practiced net income to operation between $3.35 and $3.65 per share, up from its formerly expectancy of about $2.45 to $2.70 per share.
Analysts design gain of $2.80 per share.
The firm moreover mentioned Friday a U.S. District Court granted a previously disclosed agreement solution claims in a bonds category action lawsuit. WellCare took a assign is to agreement in final year’s second quarter.
Several managed caring companies have already reported better-than-expected initial entertain figures and lifted their gain forecasts is to year. The zone has been helped, in part, by illness caring use that has been rock climbing slower than insurers expect.
Goldman Sachs researcher Matthew Borsch mentioned in a investigate note WellCare’s results “were unusually burly even by the now-high standards from the zone tailwind this quarter.”
WellCare mentioned stand-alone Medicare Part D medication drug outline membership grew 27 per cent compared to final year’s quarter, and reward income from that portion rose 36 per cent.
Membership fell somewhat in Medicaid plans, the state-federal module that provides illness coverage is to needy, aged, blind and disabled. But enrolment grew somewhat in Medicare Advantage plans, that are secretly run versions of the government’s Medicare program.
The firm moreover mentioned its complete costs rose 7 per cent to $1.44 billion in the quarter.