BRIEFCASE.

Byline: - Staff and Wire Services

Blue Cross says overcharges fixed

THOUSAND OAKS - More than 46,000 Blue Cross of California members were accidentally overcharged for their monthly premiums in April, but the health care company said Monday that it has refunded most of the miscollected money. The California Department of Managed Health Care is looking into the mistake to prevent it from happening again.

``It appears that every Blue Cross customer who's an individual enrollee with direct withdrawal was affected,'' said Jerry Flanagan, a consumer advocate with the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights. ``It looks like it was a computer glitch, but the problem is that Blue Cross wasn't forthcoming with who was affected and has been slow to refund the fees.''

The Santa Monica-based group said the overcharge amounted to $20 million, which WellPoint Inc., corporate parent of Blue Cross, disputed.

``Yes, it did happen, but it was most definitely an accident,'' said WellPoint spokesman Michael Chee. ``The problem was swiftly identified and addressed. People who were inappropriately debited were either credited or refunded. To the best of our knowledge, all cases have been addressed.''

Guess? stock up, it's no question

Guess? Inc. stock rose Monday after an upgrade from Wachovia Securities, which said the company is well positioned for sustained growth.

Shares of the Los Angeles-based clothing and accessory retailer rose $1.21, or 9.3 percent, to end at $14.23 on the New York Stock Exchange.

Analyst Joseph Teklits, who raised his rating on the stock to ``outperform'' from ``market perform,'' said Guess is one of the best-looking stores in the mall and its ``use of darker bold colors, contemporary styling, and feminine silhouettes continues to emerge as important trends for fall.''

Q1 losses narrow for DirecTV Group

EL SEGUNDO - DirecTV Group Inc., the nation's largest satellite television provider, narrowed its losses in the first quarter as it added a record number of subscribers and continued to cut costs.

The company, controlled since 2003 by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., said it lost $41.4 million, or 3 cents per share, for the three months ended March 31, down from a loss of $638.8 million, or 46 cents per share, a year ago.

Revenue grew 26 percent, to $3.15 billion from $2.49 billion last year.

Company CEO and President Chase Carey said the rest of this year will be critical for the company as it launches new satellites, adds interactive program features and, near year's end, introduces its home media center designed to allow photos and videos to be shared over a home network.

Bay Area favored for stem cell HQ

SAN FRANCISCO - An influential panel of the state's newly created stem cell agency endorsed San Francisco on Monday as its top pick to host the agency overseeing California's $3 billion public investment in stem cell research.

The panel, a subcommittee of the 29-member board that oversees the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, ranked San Diego and Sacramento in a virtual tie for second place as permanent headquarters. The full agency board is expected to formally choose a headquarters Friday at a meeting in Fresno.