Top Performer for Fri: WellCare (WCG) – Zacks #1 Rank Top Performers | Stock Market News & Stocks to Watch from StraightStocks

Top Performer for Fri: WellCare (WCG) – Zacks #1 Rank Top Performers

Source: http://www.zacks.com/commentary/12374/Top+Performer+for+Fri%3A+WellCare+%28WCG%29++-+Zacks+%231+Rank+Top+Performers
Posted on Friday, October 9th, 2009 | In Investing Lessons, Stocks to Watch

Contributed by: James Giaquinto (http://www.zacks.com/) -

The share price for WellCare Health Plans, Inc. (WCG) is nearing a 10% gain Friday afternoon, which puts this company on the Zacks #1 Rank Top Performers List.

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Volume has surged to nearly 1.5 million shares today, compared to the daily average of 444,000.

Today’s share price gain comes in the wake of Wednesday’s preliminary CBO assessment of the health care reform bill, which suggested that it could cost less than the White House had expected (given a certain degree of savings that some experts deem to be unrealistic).

Earnings estimates for WCG have been moving steadily higher in recent weeks, and the company announced a solid second-quarter performance in late July.

It is scheduled to report third-quarter numbers on Nov 4.

WCG provides managed care services exclusively for government-sponsored health care programs, focusing on Medicaid and Medicare. It offers a variety of health plans for families, children, and the aged, blind and disabled, as well as prescription drug plans. It serves about 2.4 million members.

WCG is the only company from the Medical-HMO industry on today’s Zacks #1 Rank List, which includes 221 stocks.

Earnings Estimates

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for this year is at $2.93 per share, which is up 41% from $2.08 in 3 months and up 2.4% from $2.86 in 2 months.

During its second-quarter report, WCG updated its financial outlook for the year, stating a guidance between $2.75 and $2.95 per share.

Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for next year has gained 9.7% in 3 months to $2.37 per share. Furthermore, the past 30 days has seen an advance of 3.5% from $2.29.

Second-Quarter Report

As mentioned above, WCG will report its third-quarter results early next month. At the moment, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the quarter is at 67 cents, up a penny in 30 days.

For its second quarter, WCG announced earnings per share of 88 cents, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by more than 131%.

Premium revenue advanced 9% to $1.8 billion from last year, thanks to increased Medicare Advantage and Medicaid plan premium revenue.

“Like other government program health plans, we have a challenging 2010 ahead of us,” stated President/CEO Heath Schiesser.

“We are committed to continuing to make progress in the reliability of our operations, improvements in health care quality and management of our costs,” he continued.

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