Centene Shares Popped: What You Need to Know (CNC)

Centene Shares Popped: What You Need to Know

Watch stocks you care about

The single, easiest way to keep track of all the stocks that matter...

Your own personalized stock watchlist!

It's a 100% FREE Motley Fool service...

Click Here Now

Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

What: Shares of health-care company Centene Corporation (NYSE: CNC ) jumped as much as 10% today after it released earnings.

So what: Revenue of $1.22 billion was just slightly below expectations, but earnings and outlook got investors really excited. First-quarter earnings per share were $0.46, beating estimates by four cents, and the company expects 2011 earnings to be between $2.03 and $2.13, a three-cent increase from the previous range.

Now what: Quarterly earnings were helped by a lower health benefits ratio and increased membership. The strong earnings report helped push Centene to a new 52-week high in trading today. I think the clarity of this quarter will help push shares higher as details of the health-care shakeout become clearer to investors.

Interested in more info on Centene Corporation? Add it to your watchlist.

The Steve Jobs Betrayal
You may already know that in the final year of his life, Jobs revealed a stunning betrayal — and told his biographer, "I will spend my last dying breath... and every penny of Apple's $40 billion in the bank to right this wrong." What was it that made Jobs so irate — and why could it make a few in-the-know investors some major profits over the coming months and years?

Enter your email address below to find out what made Jobs so enraged!

Fool contributor Travis Hoium does not have a position in any company mentioned. You can follow Travis on Twitter at @FlushDrawFool, check out his personal stock holdings or follow his CAPS picks at TMFFlushDraw.

Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Comments from our Foolish Readers

Help us keep this a respectfully Foolish area! This is a place for our readers to discuss, debate, and learn more about the Foolish investing topic you read about above. Help us keep it clean and safe. If you believe a comment is abusive or otherwise violates our Fool's Rules, please report it via the Report this Comment icon found on every comment.