Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Coventry Health Care, Inc., Aetna Inc., Unitedhealth Group, Inc., WellPoint Inc. and Expedia.http://www.zacks.com/ CHICAGO -- 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 Coventry Health Care, Inc. (Coventry) (NYSE: CVH) is a managed health care company in the United States. On February 8th of 2007 Coventry agreed to acquire Concentra's Workers Compensation Managed Care Services Businesses. External links
See: New York Stock Exchange : CVH CVH Helicopter Carrier CVH Compound-valve-angle Hemispherical Combustion-chamber (Ford cylinder head design and family of engines) CVH Compound Valve Angle Hemispheral Combustion Chamber CVH continuous venous hemodialysis ), Aetna Inc. (NYSE: AET AET Aetna, Inc. AET After Extra Time AET Actual Evapotranspiration AET Alliance for Environmental Technology AET Alpha-Ethyltryptamine AET Applied Extrusion Technologies, Inc. ), Unitedhealth Group, Inc. (NYSE: UNH Unh The symbol for the element unnilhexium. ), WellPoint Inc. (NYSE: WLP WLP WebLogic Portal (Bea Systems) WLP Wafer Level Packaging WLP Women's Learning Partnership (Bethesda, MD) WLP Workplace Learning & Performance WLP World Library Partnership, Inc. ) and Expedia (Nasdaq: EXPE). Get the most recent insight from Zacks Equity Research with the free Profit from the Pros newsletter: http://at.zacks.com/?id=4579 Here are highlights from Friday's Analyst Blog: Coventry Beats Expectations Coventry Health Care, Inc. (NYSE: CVH) reported third quarter earnings of 66 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. , 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 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, program. The membership in that program increased 81,000 from the prior quarter. Total operating expenses Operating expenses The amount paid for asset maintenance or the cost of doing business, excluding depreciation. Earnings are distributed after operating expenses are deducted. for the quarter came in at $3.29 billion, up 18.6% from the year ago quarter. Medical costs, the major operating expense Operating Expense The essential things that a company must purchase in order to maintain business. Notes: For example, the payment of employees wages are an operating expense. Also known as OPEX. 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 (Certified Computer Professional) The award for successful completion of a comprehensive examination on computers offered by the ICCP. See ICCP and certification. . 1. (language) CCP - Concurrent Constraint Programming. 2. ) 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 Long-Term Debt Loans and financial obligations lasting over one year. Notes: For example debts obligations such as bonds and notes which have maturities greater than one year would be considered 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 FHSC First Health Services Corporation ) 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. (NYSE: AET), Unitedhealth Group, Inc. (NYSE: UNH) and WellPoint Inc. (NYSE: WLP). Currently we are Neutral on Coventry shares. Expedia Beats on Higher Volumes Expedia's (Nasdaq: EXPE) 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 percentage 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 remaining 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. Want more from Zacks Equity Research? Subscribe to the free Profit from the Pros newsletter: http://at.zacks.com/?id=5514. About Zacks Equity Research Zacks Equity Research provides the best of quantitative and qualitative analysis to help investors know what stocks to buy and which to sell for the long-term. 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. Zacks "Profit from the Pros" e-mail newsletter provides highlights of the latest analysis from Zacks Equity Research. Subscribe to this free newsletter today: http://at.zacks.com/?id=5516 About Zacks Zacks.com is a property of Zacks Investment Research Zacks Investment Research A firm that compiles earnings estimates and brokerage firm investment recommendations for thousands of publicly traded firms. , Inc., which was formed in 1978 by Leonard Zacks. As a PhD in mathematics Len knew he could find patterns in stock market data that would lead to superior investment results. Amongst his many accomplishments was the formation of his proprietary stock picking system; the Zacks Rank, which continues to outperform the market by nearly a 3 to 1 margin. The best way to unlock the profitable stock recommendations and market insights of Zacks Investment Research is through our free daily email newsletter; Profit from the Pros. In short, it's your steady flow of Profitable ideas GUARANTEED to be worth your time! Register for your free subscription to Profit from the Pros at http://at.zacks.com/?id=4580. Visit http://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release. Follow us on Twitter A Web site and service that lets users send short text messages from their cellphones to a group of friends. Launched in 2006, Twitter (www.twitter.com) was designed for people to broadcast their current activities and thoughts. : http://twitter.com/zacksresearch Join us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/Zacks-Investment-Research/57553657748?ref=ts Disclaimer: Past performance does not guarantee future results. Investors should always research companies and securities before making any investments. Nothing herein should be construed as an offer or solicitation to buy or sell any security. |
|
||||||||||||||||

Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion