HEALTH NET REPORTS SOLID FIRST QUARTER ECONOMIC CHECKUP SHOWS SALES IMPROVING.Byline: BRENT Brent, outer borough (1991 pop. 226,100) of Greater London, SE England. The area is a rail and industrial center. Its manufactures include automobile parts, clocks and watches, and electrical equipment. HOPKINS Staff Writer WOODLAND HILLS -- Taking advantage of a favorable fa·vor·a·ble adj. 1. Advantageous; helpful: favorable winds. 2. Encouraging; propitious: a favorable diagnosis. 3. comparison, Health Net Inc. reported solid first-quarter results Monday. The managed-care company earned $76.6 million, or 67 cents per share Cents per share The amount of a mutual fund's dividend or capital gains distributions that a shareholder will receive for each share owned. , in the first three months of the year, a 250 percent increase from the $21.3 million, or 19 cents per share, it saw in the same period a year ago. The latter period included $67 million in one-time charges, however, stemming from a class-action lawsuit settlement and layoff Layoff 1. When a company eliminates jobs regardless of how good the employees' performance. 2. A risk reduction, made by investment bankers, that minimizes the potential downside associated with a commitment to purchase and sell a stock issue unsubscribed by stockholders holding charges. With $3.2 billion in revenue, sales improved to the highest mark in the past year, up slightly from the $2.9 billion in the first quarter of 2006. ``We're very pleased with the quarter's performance and we remain confident about the full year,'' Chief Financial Officer Buddy Piszel said during a conference call with analysts. ``We're executing against our plan and the strength of our diverse businesses continues to drive performance.'' The company added 10,000 members in the quarter, bringing total health plan enrollment to 3.4 million people. It also enrolled 255,000 members into its Medicare Part D prescription drug prescription drug Prescription medication Pharmacology An FDA-approved drug which must, by federal law or regulation, be dispensed only pursuant to a prescription–eg, finished dose form and active ingredients subject to the provisos of the Federal Food, Drug, benefit plans. Administrative spending increased by $68 million from the same period a year ago, hitting $295.6 million. Chief Executive Officer and President Jay Gellert Jay Gellert (born 1956 in New York City, New York) is the current CEO and President of Health Net, Inc. defended the costs as a necessary investment. ``We're in the process of creating a more competitive company, adding people and products to pave PAVE Cardiology A clinical trial–Post AV Node Ablation Evaluation the way to new success,'' Gellert said. ``We're moving the company dynamically forward.'' Analysts took a generally favorable attitude toward the news. ``We don't see any of this as a problem for the stock today, but with the group so spooked these days, who knows?'' wrote Citigroup analyst Charles Boorady in a note to clients. Investors took note, pushing shares up $2.50, a 6.55 percent increase, to close at $40.64 on Monday. brent.hopkins(at)dailynews.com (818) 713-3738 |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion