Boston, MA 05/01/2014 (wallstreetpr) – CIGNA Corporation (NYSE:CI) starts to get some traction in the pre-market hours activity as the global health service company reports better-than-expected first quarterly earnings. Cigna’s report follows impressive performance by larger rivals such as WellPoint Inc and Aetna Inc.
Exceeds Analysts Expectations
CIGNA Corporation (NYSE:CI) posted net income to the tune of $528 million and $1.92 on a per share basis, which compared against $57 million, or $0.20 per share in the same quarter previous year. The earnings per share came in at $1.83 per share, which excludes investment gains. As per the analysts surveyed by Thompson Reuters, the average estimate for earnings per share was kept at $1.54 a share. During the reported quarter, the company witnessed growth in revenue as a result of the addition of new members and apparently higher premium collections. The revenue stood higher at $8.5 billion against the average market consensus of $7.7 billion. The quarter for Cigna ended with 14.17 million medical customers, which increased from 14.08 million at the end of the previous year.
Costs Controlled, Increased Medical Enrollments
The main reason for an upbeat quarter is the increase in the medical enrollments and management of costs associated with the company’s Medicare and commercial customers. The current financial performance comes in a sharp contrast to its earlier quarter’s results, when the company failed to match the wall Street’s earnings estimates. Reason being the higher costs attached to Medicare business than expected. In view of the robust first quarter earnings, the health insurer has also revised its guidance for the year 2014 upwards. It now expects earnings to come in the range of $1.93 billion to $2 billion, that is $7.05 to $7.35 on a per share, higher than its earlier projection of $6.80-$7.20 earnings per share.
The shares of CIGNA Corporation (NYSE:CI) are up by 2.70% in pre-market hours.
