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 diversified health-care benefits company Aetna
So what: For the quarter, Aetna reported a drop in quarterly net income to $1.34 (excluding one-time items) which is $0.06 worse than Wall Street had expected. Revenue, however, did rise 6% to $8.92 billion as enrollments ticked higher by 0.6%. The company blamed rising medical claim costs and higher administrative expenses as the primary culprit for the earnings miss. Specifically, premium revenue spent on medical costs increased to 81.5% from 79.2% in the previous year.
Now what: What's particularly disturbing about Aetna's miss is that larger peers UnitedHealth Group
Craving more input? Start by adding Aetna to your free and personalized watchlist so you can keep up on the latest news with the company.