Humana Swings To Loss, But Adjusted Profit Beats Expectations

Humana Inc. reported Wednesday a fourth-quarter loss of $486 million, or $2.86 a share, compared with a profit of $246 million, or 67 cents a share, in the same period a year ago. Excluding non-recurring items, such as $505 million for reserve strengthening of its long-term care insurance business, adjusted earnings per share game to $2.09, above the FactSet consensus of $2.05. Revenue fell to $12.88 billion from $13.36 billion. Adjusted revenue, which excludes a write off of risk corridor receivables, was $13.46 billion, just shy of the FactSet consensus of $13.51 billion. The health care company said chief operating officer James Murray will retire effective March 31, and the company doesn't expect to fill the COO role. Humana is currently working to address regulatory concerns about its merger deal with Aetna Inc. s[: aet]. The stock, which was still inactive in premarket trade, has surged 24% over the past 12 months, while the S&P 500 has climbed 24%.