(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.
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.
