Cigna Profit Grows, Though Top Line Misses

Cigna Corp. logged better-than-expected earnings in its third quarter amid favorable medical and operating costs in the global healthcare segment and customer growth.

Revenue, however, missed Wall Street expectations.

In response to the latest results, the company raised the low end of its annual forecast for adjusted income from operations to $8.40 to $8.60 a share from a previous range of $8.30 to $8.60 a share.

The Bloomfield, Conn., insurer said it had 14.85 million total medical customers at the end of the quarter, compared with 14.35 million a year earlier and 14.77 million in the previous quarter.

In Cigna's global health-care business, premiums and fees revenue grew 8.3% to $6.62 billion, driven by customer growth in its commercial and government businesses and rate actions.

Overall, Cigna reported earnings of $547 million, or $2.10 a share, up from $534 million, or $2.01 a share, a year earlier. Excluding certain items, per-share earnings from operations grew to an adjusted $2.28 a share from $2.06 a share a year ago.

Revenue rose 7.2% to $9.4 billion.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters had forecast $2.20 a share in earnings on $9.517 billion revenue.

In July, Anthem Inc. agreed to buy Cigna Corp. for $48 billion, capping months of merger frenzy among top U.S. health insurers. The deal combines the second- and fifth-largest health insurers by revenue and would create a company with a huge footprint in commercial insurance, the type of coverage provided to employers and consumers.

The biggest companies are seeking more cost efficiency and scale as the health-care landscape changes because of the Affordable Care Act and other factors.

Write to Ezequiel Minaya at ezequiel.minaya@wsj.com

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