{"id":18416,"date":"2015-10-15T17:49:43","date_gmt":"2015-10-15T22:49:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=18416"},"modified":"2015-10-15T17:49:43","modified_gmt":"2015-10-15T22:49:43","slug":"unitedhealth-groups-earnings-beat-estimates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/unitedhealth-groups-earnings-beat-estimates\/","title":{"rendered":"UnitedHealth Group’s earnings beat estimates"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Antea Gatalica<\/p>\n

UnitedHealth Group Inc. reported higher-than-expected quarterly earnings Thursday, but shares of the company fell on concerns over an increase in costs.<\/p>\n

The Minnesota-based health care company posted flat net earnings of $1.6 billion, or $1.65 per diluted share, in the fiscal quarter that ended Sept. 30, beating the analysts\u2019 consensus estimate of $1.64 per diluted share.\u00a0The company earned $1.63 per diluted share in the year-ago period.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

UnitedHealth Group has been spending more to achieve higher ratings under Medicare\u2019s five-star rating program that determines how much insurers reimburse services and gives consumers a way to compare health care programs.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur Medicare stars improvement does come with a related increase in medical costs,\u201d President and Chief Financial Officer David Wichmann said in a conference call with analysts.<\/p>\n

Wichmann said star quality improvements will strengthen reimbursement rates in the coming years and develop the company\u2019s Medicare Advantage programs.<\/p>\n

Revenues rose 27 percent to $41.49 billion in the quarter, which included results of newly acquired businesses.<\/p>\n

Peter Costa, senior analyst at Wells Fargo, said any pressure on profit in the quarter was not worrisome in light of the company\u2019s \u201cimproved star score results and exchange growth.\u201d<\/p>\n

UnitedHealth shares fell $1.90, or nearly 2 percent, to close at $120.17 Thursday.<\/p>\n

Photo at top: UnitedHealth Group has been spending more to achieve higher ratings under Medicare\u2019s five-star rating program. (401kCalculator<\/a>\/Creative Commons<\/a>)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Antea Gatalica UnitedHealth Group Inc. reported higher-than-expected quarterly earnings Thursday, but shares of the company fell on concerns over an increase in costs. The Minnesota-based health care company posted flat net earnings of $1.6 billion, or $1.65 per diluted share, in the fiscal quarter that ended Sept. 30, beating the analysts\u2019 consensus estimate of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":166,"featured_media":18417,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,509],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18416","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-fall-2015"],"yoast_head":"\nUnitedHealth Group's earnings beat estimates - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/unitedhealth-groups-earnings-beat-estimates\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"UnitedHealth Group's earnings beat estimates - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Antea Gatalica UnitedHealth Group Inc. reported higher-than-expected quarterly earnings Thursday, but shares of the company fell on concerns over an increase in costs. 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