NEW YORK (AP) — Starting with UnitedHealth on Thursday, health insurers will report their fourth-quarter results over the next two weeks, and a Jefferies & Co. analyst expects the companies and their stocks to do well in early 2012.
Analyst David Windley said he expects to see "solid" fourth quarter results because health care use is still low. He expects that trend to continue in early 2012, causing the stocks to trade higher.
Consumers are visiting the doctor less often and having fewer elective medical procedures as they try to save money, so health care use has been rising more slowly than companies expected when they set their premiums. That means health insurers will profits will be larger than expected.
Continue Reading for Free
Register and gain access to:
- 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.
