(Bloomberg) — UnitedHealth Group Inc., the biggest U.S. health insurer, raised its full-year forecast after saying that profit gained in the second quarter, helped by its booming Optum technology and services unit.
Second-quarter net income climbed to $1.59 billion, or $1.64 a share, from $1.41 billion, or $1.42 a share, a year earlier, UnitedHealth said Thursday in a statement. That beat the average analyst estimate of $1.58 a share.
Medical costs hurt the company, however, and UnitedHealth shares fell 1.5 percent at 9:52 a.m. in New York. UnitedHealth spent 81.4 cents of every premium dollar on patient care in the second quarter, a measure known as the medical loss ratio, compared with 81.6 cents a year earlier. That's higher than some investors anticipated, said Brian Wright, an analyst with Stern Agee & Leach Inc.
Complete your profile to continue reading and get FREE access to BenefitsPRO, part of your ALM digital membership.
Your access to unlimited BenefitsPRO content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking benefits news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical converage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
