Humana, Inc. (NYSE: HUM)
Shares of Humana popped Wednesday after the company beat quarterly profit expectations and lifted its full-year outlook.
The health insurer noted a significant increase in sales of Medicare Advantage healthcare plans to the disabled and the elderly, which boosted its earnings.
Despite topping Wall Street estimates, profit dropped by 70.3% from the same period a year ago, due to a $790 million pretax loss on the sale of its KMG America Corporation unit.
Humana shares have gained nearly 36% in the last twelve months, while the S&P 500 has soared 14%.
HUM Earnings & Outlook
The company reported a profit of $193 million, or $1.39 per share for the quarter. In the same period last year, the health insurer had a profit of $1.04 billion, or $4.46 per share.
Adjusted for one-time items, earnings per share came in at $3.96 compared to $3.49 in the year-ago quarter.
Revenue was $14.26 billion, an increase of 5.4% from the same period a year ago. During the three months to June 30, 2018, premiums increased by 3.9% to $13.71 billion, ahead of estimates of $13.48 billion.
Analysts polled by Thompson Reuters had predicted adjusted earnings of $3.77 per share on revenue of $14.11 billion.
Humana boosted its full-year adjusted earnings guidance to $14.15 from $13.70 to $14.1 per share.
The company expects its 2018 revenue numbers to be in the range of $55.9 billion to $56.5 billion from a previous forecast of $55.8 billion to $56.4 billion.
Humana CEO Comments
“Our strong 2018 financial results are testimony to the underlying improvement in our operating metrics, like Net Promoter Score, digital self-service utilization and call transfer reduction, and to the growing effectiveness of our national and local clinical programs,” said Bruce D. Broussard, Humana’s President and Chief Executive Officer.
“Also, we took another large step this quarter in helping our members, especially those living with chronic conditions, by beginning the integration of important clinical services through our investments in Kindred at Home and Curo, and through our partnership with Walgreens. Over time, these moves, along with the continuous improvement of our operating system, will go a long way in simplifying the healthcare experience of our members and provider partners, while also improving the health status of our members,” concluded Broussard.
Humana, Inc. Company Profile
Humana Inc. is a US health and well-being company that focuses on making it easy for individuals to achieve best health.
The company operates through Retail, Healthcare Services, Group and Specialty, and Individual Commercial segments.
Its Retail segment sells products on a retail basis to individuals including supplemental and medical benefit plans, such as State-based Medicaid and Medicare contracts.
The Individual Commercial segment consists of Individual Commercial products that are marketed under the HumanaOne brand name.
The Group and Specialty segment contains employer group fully-insured commercial medical specialty health insurance benefits and products marketed to groups and individuals.
This includes military, vision, and dental services and other voluntary insurance & supplemental health benefits.
Its Healthcare Services segment offers services such as provider services, pharmacy solutions, clinical care, informatics and predictive modeling to other Humana businesses. It also provides external health plans, external health plan members, and other employers.
The company was founded in 1961 by Wendell Cherry and David A. Jones, Sr. Its headquarters are based in Louisville, Kentucky. –Yahoo
