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☆ Elevance Health Earnings Rise With Uptick in Premiums, Enrollment
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Dean Seal | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Elevance Health, which owns Blue Cross Blue Shield, is dealing with double-digit growth in costs. Photo: Michael Conroy/Associated PressElevance Health Inc. reported stronger revenue and earnings in the first quarter as growing premiums continued to outpace rising costs. The health insurer and Blue Cross Blue Shield owner, formerly known as Anthem Inc., said operating revenue grew more than 10% to $41.9 billion. Analysts had been expecting $40.92 billion, according to FactSet.

WASHINGTON, March 31 (Reuters) - The U.S. government announced on Friday a lower than expected 1.1% average cut of 2024 reimbursement rates for health insurers that offer coverage through the Medicare Advantage program, boosting shares of the market's largest players. Health insurers who operate Medicare Advantage plans have come under pressure after the government last month proposed new rules for an audit program to avoid overpaying them. The companies are among the largest players in the Medicare Advantage market in which private insurers are paid a set rate by the government to manage member healthcare. Medicare Advantage covers nearly half of the 65 million people enrolled in the government's Medicare program for people aged 65 and older or disabled. The agency pegged the spending increase in the traditional Medicare program, which in previous years was the main factor determining how much the agency pays Medicare Advantage insurers, at 2.3%, up from 2.1% in its initial proposal.

☆ These are Wall Street's favorite defensive stocks as the market's early momentum this year wanes
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( Michelle Fox | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

However, defensive stocks are likely to better withstand a market downturn given their strong balance sheet and consistent revenue stream. With that in mind, CNBC Pro looked for Wall Street's favorite defense stocks. At least 60% of the analysts covering the stock rate it a buy, per FactSet. Visa and Mastercard have more than 70% of the analysts covering the stocks rating them a buy. The stock has 17% upside to the average analyst price target and 68% of analysts covering it rate the name a buy.

☆ These 10 quality stocks are cheap and set to beat the market, Bernstein says
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( Hakyung Kim | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Investors looking for protection — and possibly even outperformance — this year will benefit from being more selective about the quality stocks they buy, according to Bernstein. The problem this year, however, is that quality stocks are trading at a 12.5% premium to their historical valuation, analyst Sarah McCarthy said in a note. With this in mind, Bernstein compiled a list of quality stocks that are trading at a "reasonable price." Tech giant Microsoft came on top of Bernstein's picks of cheap quality stocks with an upside. Danaher, Adobe, Pioneer Natural Resources, Applied Materials and Elevance Health also made Bernstein's list.

☆ See the 12-slide presentation that a health-insurance startup used to land $58 million after its public competitors tumbled
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Rebecca Torrence | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Angle Health wants to use tech to transform health insurance where other upstarts have failed. Angle Health raised $58 million to disrupt employer-sponsored health benefits using this pitch deck. Companies like Oscar Health, Clover Health, and Bright Health raked in investor cash on the promise that they could transform health plans with tech, and each went public in 2021 at a lofty valuation. Angle Health provided Insider with the pitch deck it used to raise $58 million in Series A funding from Portage and other investors. Here's the pitch deck Angle Health used to land a $58 million Series A.

☆ Elevance Health Revenue Lifted by Higher Premiums
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( Dean Seal | Anna Wilde Mathews | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Elevance Health Inc. reported higher revenue but a smaller profit for the fourth quarter as premiums rose in tandem with medical costs. The health insurer and healthcare-services provider, formerly known as Anthem Inc., said Wednesday that total revenue increased 9.2% to $39.93 billion, topping analyst expectations of $39.77 billion, according to FactSet.

☆ The era of health insurance disruptors is over
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Today, they're mostly the poster children of just how challenging it is to break into the insurance industry. Clover Health; Bright Health; Oscar Health; Olivia Reaney/Business InsiderOscar, founded in 2012, and Bright, in 2015, set out to sell health plans to people buying coverage through the Affordable Care Act marketplace. Elevance Health, the parent company of Anthem health plans, is No. Health insurance remains overly complex and mind-numbingly frustrating. Established health insurers haven't been able to stem the rise in health costs, which are mostly determined by the prices for medical care.

☆ Health insurer Elevance's strategy is coming into focus as it goes head-to-head with giants UnitedHealth and CVS
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Elevance Health, the major US health insurer formerly called Anthem, said Monday that it plans to acquire Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana in a rare merger between two Blue-affiliated health insurers. It's possible that if the merger goes through, the Louisiana Blue could flip to using Elevance's PBM. While competitors like UnitedHealth, CVS, and Humana are pushing deeper into delivering primary care, Elevance has focused on owning businesses that serve people with serious and chronic illnesses. Carelon's strategy has been to sell its services to both Elevance's own health plans and other Blue-affiliated insurers. Carelon brought in almost $41 billion in revenue in 2022, and 60% of that came from Elevance's own health plans, Boudreaux said Wednesday.

☆ Elevance to Acquire Louisiana Nonprofit Health Insurer
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( Anna Wilde Mathews | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Elevance Health Inc. said it agreed to acquire the nonprofit health insurer Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana, expanding its Blue business into a new state. Elevance, the parent of a major health insurer that offers an array of other health services as well, didn’t disclose terms of the deal in its Monday announcement. Spokeswomen for Elevance and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana declined to comment.

☆ Get ready for a deluge of data next week that will shape the Fed's next moves
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-21 | by ( Zev Fima | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

Within the portfolio, we'll get the latest earnings from Danaher (DHR), Halliburton (HAL), and Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) on Tuesday before the opening bell. While the results will be important as always, we are most interested in the earnings call with analysts and investors. Housing Starts fell 1.4% in December to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.38 million, slightly above the 1.36 million expected. Building permits dropped 1.6% in December to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.33 million, below expectations of 1.37 million. As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade.

☆ Earnings could keep the market on edge in week ahead as investors wait for Fed
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( Patti Domm | In | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

I do think that will happen even more in the week ahead as the Fed is in a blackout period. S & P Global PMI data is released for both services and manufacturing Tuesday. "The market continues to think the Fed does not have to administer as much medicine as the Fed tells us they plan to. Earnings, earnings, earnings Stocks were lower in the past week, with the S & P 500 off by 1.8%. "It's a mild earnings recession, but it's an earnings recession.

☆ Want to land a remote job in 2023? These 20 companies are on a hiring spree
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-09 | by ( Morgan Smith | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

To help people find the best remote opportunities, FlexJobs, a membership service for jobseekers, identified the top 100 companies hiring remote jobs in 2023, taking into account some 58,000 companies who listed their openings on the site between January and December 2022. "We're not seeing one industry dominate the remote job market like we used to," Kathy Gardner, the vice president of communications at FlexJobs, says. "Three years ago, your best bet to land a remote job was to apply to tech companies, but now, there's a much more healthy mix of industries offering flexible opportunities." "It's still a tight labor market, which means companies have to cater to what jobseekers want — and that's remote work," Gardner says. Here are the top 20 companies hiring for the most remote jobs in 2023, according to FlexJobs (and see the full list here):

☆ Goldman Sachs says the two major investor groups agree these are good stocks for 2023
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( Michelle Fox | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Profit growth for the median shared favorite is expected to be 15% in 2023, compared to 7% for the median S & P 500 stock, Kostin said. Since 2013, an equal-weighted basket of shared favorites has outpaced the S & P 500 in 58% of the months. The basket has underperformed the S & P 500 by 3 percentage points so far this year, "consistent with other periods of market stress," Kostin wrote. However, since the market rally in June, it has outperformed the S & P, he said. Lastly, Wells Fargo 's stock is down about 12% in 2022.

☆ A former BlackRock stock chief shares 9 stocks he's bullish on right now as he warns the market is due to retest recent lows amid the Fed's ongoing hawkishness
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-08 | by ( William Edwards | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Amid a poor-return environment for the broader market, he shared what he's looking for in stocks. Stocks dropped quickly on Wednesday afternoon after the hike was announced and as Powell reiterated the FOMC's hawkish intentions. "We've had a nice little run here in the stock market — it's the third double-digit percentage gain since the bear market started," Doll said. 9 stocks Doll likes right nowWith Doll's outlook being that the broader market is doomed to a range-bound near-term future, he said he's focusing on so-called quality stocks — firms with quality income statements, balance sheets, and management teams. Doll also listed quality stocks in the health maintenance organization (HMO) space.

Nov 2 (Reuters) - CVS Health Corp (CVS.N) on Wednesday forecast a 2023 profit below Wall Street estimates and said it hoped to mitigate the hit from a performance rating decline for its most popular Medicare plan by encouraging members to shift to other plans. read more CVS took a pre-tax charge of $5.2 billion in the third quarter related to the settlement. The settlement price, which was below investor expectations, according to Evercore ISI analyst Elizabeth Anderson, and other measures announced by the company helped lift CVS Health shares nearly 5%. In its insurance business, CVS said it is trying to move members out of Aetna's National PPO plan, which currently accounts for 59% of its Medicare Advantage plan members. CVS' health insurance business as well as peers Elevance Health (ELV.N) and UnitedHealth (UNH.N) have benefited from a slow recovery in elective procedures and a fall in COVID cases that has kept costs in check.

☆ Humana profit beats on slow elective-care rebound
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Nov 2 (Reuters) - Humana Inc (HUM.N) beat third-quarter profit estimates on Wednesday, as a sluggish recovery in elective procedures helped the health insurer keep medical costs in check. Humana's guidance to enroll 325,000 to 400,000 Medicare Advantage members next year marks a return to industry rate, one year ahead of schedule, Stephens analyst Scott Fidel said in a note. In September, Humana raised it forecast, citing no COVID-19 "headwind materializing" and lower-than-expected medical cost trends in the company's Medicare Advantage and Medicaid businesses. A lower ratio is better for a health insurer as it indicates a tight rein on costs. Humana said its adjusted profit for the third quarter was $6.88 per share, above estimates of $6.28, according to Refinitiv data.

☆ CVS Health lifts forecast as PBM, insurance units drive profit beat
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Nov 2 (Reuters) - CVS Health Corp (CVS.N) on Wednesday raised its annual profit forecast after topping quarterly estimates on strong performance at its health insurance and pharmacy benefit management businesses, sending its shares up 1% in premarket trade. CVS' health insurance business benefited from a slow recovery in elective procedures and a fall in COVID cases, which kept costs in check, as did peers Elevance Health (ELV.N) and UnitedHealth (UNH.N). Revenue from the insurance and pharmacy benefit management businesses rose around 10% each, while retail and pharmacy sales gained about 7%. Excluding some one-off items, CVS Health reported a profit of $2.09 per share, compared with analysts' average estimate of $1.99 per share. It removes an "overhang" on CVS and is lower than investor expectations, Evercore ISI analyst Elizabeth Anderson said in a note.

☆ Elevance raises annual profit forecast after quarterly beat
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Oct 19 (Reuters) - Health insurer Elevance Health Inc (ELV.N) on Wednesday raised its annual profit forecast after beating estimates for quarterly earnings on lower-than-expected medical costs and strong performance of its Medicaid business. Last week, larger rival UnitedHealth Group Inc (UNH.N) raised its annual profit forecast for the third straight quarter and said the direct impact of COVID-19 was expected to ease next year. The lower the ratio, the better it is for a health insurer as it indicates a tight rein on costs. Elevance, which was previously known as Anthem, now expects annual adjusted earnings to be higher than $28.95 per share, compared with its prior forecast of more than $28.70 per share. Excluding items, the company reported earnings of $7.53 per share, above analysts' estimates of $7.15, according to IBES estimates from Refinitiv.

☆ Cybersecurity Tops the CIO Agenda as Threats Continue to Escalate
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-17 | by ( Steven Rosenbush | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +6 min

Cyber and information security has been at the top of their agenda since 2020. Newsletter Sign-up WSJ | CIO Journal The Morning Download delivers daily insights and news on business technology from the CIO Journal team. Gartner forecasts that worldwide information security and risk-management spending by end-users will reach $188.336 billion in 2023, up 11.3% from the current year. It’s what boards are talking about,” said Truist Financial Corp. Chief Information Security Officer Howard Whyte. He and Truist CIO Scott Case work closely to understand the Charlotte, N.C.-based bank’s changing attack surface and cybersecurity risk.

☆ October's wild trading could give way to a new stock rally, as earnings roll out in the week ahead
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-14 | by ( Patti Domm | In | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

But Emanuel sees the chance for a 17% to 20% rally in the S & P 500. The S & P 500 was down about 0.9% for the week, as of Friday afternoon, and it was hovering just above 3,600. S & P 500 earnings are expected to grow by 3.6% for the third quarter, based on actual reports and estimates, according to Refinitiv. Without the boost from more than doubling profits from energy companies, S & P earnings would decline by 3.1%. Week ahead calendar Monday Earnings: Bank of America , Bank of NY Mellon, Charles Schwab 8:30 a.m.

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