Wall Street has a remarkable way of turning its darlings into dungheaps. For most of 2005, managed health-care companies like UnitedHealth (NYSE:UNH), Coventry Health (NYSE:CVH), and WellPoint (NYSE:WLP) were the toast of the market. Since then, though, investors have begun to focus on health-care costs, premium trends, options policies, and so on. It seems Wall Streeters loved these firms too much when times were good, and now those fickle investors are in a rush to hate them more than their peers.

Whatever. I still like WellPoint, and I believe this company can do better.

This quarter's performance wasn't too shabby as is. Revenue rose 26% (up more than 10% on a comparable basis). Medical costs came in all right (the medical expense ratio was just a smidge higher), net income grew nearly 20%, and enrollment trends looked fine to me.

In returns on invested capital, the company saw slightly less robust returns. Again, they're not bad -- they're just not up to the levels of rivals, or even the company's own past, because acquisitions have swelled the equity base ahead of returns. I'd flag this area as needing improvement, though I'm confident it will ultimately rebound.

Over the long haul, I see WellPoint as a formidable competitor, particularly since its relationship with Blue Cross Blue Shield lends it a certain advantage in customer mind-share. But even if WellPoint holds its own against the likes of UnitedHealth and Aetna (NYSE:AET), there are still some factors to keep in mind. The largest, to me, is my uncertainty that the company can keep pushing premium increases as it has in the past.

Nonetheless, WellPoint piques my interest. I don't advise playing chicken with freight trains -- in other words, buying stocks in sectors that are getting hammered -- but I'm keeping an ever-closer watch on this one. I'm not the biggest managed-care bull around, but I'm still liking what I see at WellPoint.

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Fool contributor Stephen Simpson has no financial interest in any stocks mentioned (that means he's neither long nor short the shares).