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Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Coventry Health Care, Inc., Aetna Inc., Unitedhealth Group, Inc., WellPoint Inc. and Expedia
For Immediate Release
Chicago, IL – November 2, 2009 – Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: Coventry Health Care, Inc. (CVH - Analyst Report), Aetna Inc. (AET - Analyst Report), Unitedhealth Group, Inc. (UNH - Analyst Report), WellPoint Inc. (WLP - Analyst Report) and Expedia (EXPE - Analyst Report).
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Here are highlights from Friday’s AnalystBlog:
Coventry Beats Expectations
Coventry Health Care, Inc. (CVH - Analyst Report) reported third quarter earnings of 66 cents per share, which was above the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 54 cents. The company earned 73 cents in the year-ago quarter.
Total operating revenues for the reported quarter increased 17.8% to $3.44 billion from the previous year's $2.92 billion. Revenues from managed care premiums rose 20% to $3.15 billion, while revenues from management services decreased to $290.9 million from $298.4 million a year earlier.
Due to reduced commercial risk and commercial management membership, total enrollment in Coventry plans increased 0.55% to 5.24 million members, mainly on gains in the Medicare D prescription drug program. The membership in that program increased 81,000 from the prior quarter.
Total operating expenses for the quarter came in at $3.29 billion, up 18.6% from the year ago quarter. Medical costs, the major operating expense component, rose to $2.66 billion from $2.20 billion last year. The medical loss ratio for the quarter (the proportion of premium revenue spent on providing medical care) reduced to 84.4 % from 86.4%.
For the quarter, Coventry Health displayed continued growth in all Medicare products, with Medicare Coordinated Care Product (CCP) membership rising 38% from the third quarter of 2008. The commercial group risk premium yields rose to $304.13 per member per month in the quarter, which reflected a 6.1% increase from the year-ago quarter.
Coventry ended the quarter with $1.71 billion cash and cash equivalents. Furthermore, Coventry exited the quarter with $1.71 billion in long-term debt. Coventry raised its fiscal 2009 earnings guidance to $2.01-$2.03, from the prior guidance of $1.85-$1.95 per share. The guidance excludes the impact of the First Health Services Corporation (FHSC) divestiture.
Coventry operates as a managed healthcare company in the United States. The company operates local health plans that serve markets primarily in the Mid-Atlantic, Midwest and Southeast United States. The company competes with big players like Aetna Inc. (AET - Analyst Report), Unitedhealth Group, Inc. (UNH - Analyst Report) and WellPoint Inc. (WLP - Analyst Report).
Currently we are Neutral on Coventry shares.
Expedia Beats on Higher Volumes
Expedia’s (EXPE - Analyst Report) third quarter earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 15 cents. Revenue beat by 2.8%.
Revenue
Revenue for the quarter was $852.4 million, up 10.7% sequentially and 2.3% year over year. Acquisitions had a 1.7 pecentage point positive impact on revenue in the last quarter.
Leisure customers remained the largest revenue contributors, generating 86.1% of revenue. Corporate customers (Egencia) generated 3.0%, while TripAdvisor brought in the remaning 10.9%. The three categories increased 11.4%, 0.0% and 83.0%, respectively from the June quarter of 2009. They also increased 2.7%, 0.0% and 67.2%, respectively from the year-ago quarter.
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Continuous coverage is provided for a universe of 1,150 publicly traded stocks. Our analysts are organized by industry which gives them keen insights to developments that affect company profits and stock performance. Recommendations and target prices are six-month time horizons.
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