WellPoint (WLP) rises on first quarter profit increase: Members up; benefits down Examiner.com
On Wednesday, shares of WellPoint, Inc. (NYSE: WLP ) rose to $57.45 (+$1.53, +2.74%) after the company announced better-than-expected first quarter 2010 profits. Due to an increase in membership growth and a decrease in benefit expenses, net income for the first three months of this year was $876.8 million, or $1.96 per share. This represents a 51% increase over first quarter 2009 income of 580.4 million, or $1.16 per share. Excluding net investment effects, per-share earnings rose from $1.62 in 2009 to $1.95 in 2010.
Despite sharp political and media criticism, medical enrollment grew by 0.5% as WellPoint managed to attract 165,000 new members in the first quarter. The company gained 536,000 in National Accounts and BlueCard business, 56,000 in the Federal Employees Program and 37,000 in the Senior segment. However, they lost 360,000 members due to non-Blue business transfer in Texas and Illinois and Blue-branded Local Group and Individual business economically-related attrition. As a result, the health giant now insures 33.8 million people.
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