Managed care provider Cigna to report 3rd-quarter results Thursday

by AP

INDIANAPOLIS — Managed care provider Cigna Corp. reports results for the third quarter on Thursday. Here are some key developments and analyst opinions related to that period.

OVERVIEW: Philadelphia-based Cigna’s main national competitors have managed to top Wall Street expectations for the most part during the third quarter. But they’ve also been hurt by sliding enrollment in employer-based health insurance and growing flu-related costs.

Enrollment losses are expected to last into next year, as employers continue to cut jobs and reduce the number of people covered under their health insurance plans.

Cigna saw an enrollment loss in the second quarter, driving down premiums and fees from its health care segment, the largest portion of its business. Cigna operates health care, group disability and life and international business segments.

The insurer has estimated that its enrollment will fall between 5 percent and 5.5 percent for the year. The company had about 11.7 million members at the start of 2009.

Improving equity markets helped Cigna in the second quarter with its discontinued guaranteed minimum income benefits and variable annuity death benefits businesses. Charges from those businesses had hurt Cigna in recent quarters.

Cigna said in August that it expects to maintain its 2009 adjusted profit forecast of $1.04 billion to $1.1 billion.

BY THE NUMBERS: On average, analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expect third-quarter earnings of $1.03 per share on $4.6 billion in revenue.

ANALYST TAKE: Fixed-income markets have been strong, which should help Cigna avoid variable annuity writedowns in the quarter, Oppenheimer analyst Carl McDonald said late last month in a research note. He also noted that the real estate market “appears to have bottomed, which puts the commercial mortgage portfolio of the company in better shape.”

But McDonald also said Cigna’s administrative costs are sized for a much bigger company.

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