Humana Profit Jumps 25%

Humana Inc., which has agreed to sell itself to Aetna Inc., on Wednesday reported a better-than-expected 25% jump in profit in its second quarter, though revenue disappointed as the health insurer faces challenges in its Medicare Advantage business.

Shares slipped 0.3% in premarket trading.

Humana said it took actions to improve profitability in its individual commercial and state-based contracts businesses in the quarter. Meanwhile, the company said it sees its Medicare Advantage business stabilizing.

Results for Medicare Advantage were hurt by lower-than-expected claim recovery levels and fewer reductions in inpatient admissions than it had anticipated.

Earlier this month, Humana cut its adjusted earnings outlook for the full year and issued downbeat guidance for the latest quarter amid higher-than-expected Medicare Advantage admissions.

"While certain operational challenges impacted our second-quarter results, we are encouraged by recent progress," said finance chief Brian Kane in a news release Wednesday.

Medicare Advantage membership grew 14.8% to 2.71 million, while individual commercial membership fell 7.5% to 1.04 million.

Overall, Humana posted earnings of $431 million, or $2.85 a share, compared with a profit of $344 million, or $2.19 a share, a year earlier.

Excluding a gain from the sale of its Concentra Inc. business, per-share earnings were $1.67. Humana had forecast earnings of $1.60 to $1.65 a share.

Total revenue, which includes investment income, grew 12.4% to $13.73 billion.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had forecast $13.81 billion in revenue

Revenue from premiums and services grew 12.3% to $13.62 billion, reflecting higher totals in the retail and group segments.

The company backed its full-year guidance for $7.75 in adjusted earnings.

For the third quarter, Humana forecast per-share earnings of $2.15 a share, while analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had forecast per-share earnings of $2.18 a share.

Humana in early July agreed to sell itself to Aetna Inc., part of a rapid-fire reconfiguration of the U.S. health-insurance industry's top ranks. Last week, Anthem Inc. agreed to buy Cigna Corp. for $48 billion, combining the second- and fifth-largest health insurers by revenue.

The consolidation momentum in the health-insurance industry is being fed by a desire to diversify and cut costs, amid a landscape changed by the Affordable Care Act. Insurers are eager to reduce expenses and build scale that will help them face off against health-care providers that are bulking up. The providers themselves are growing partly with an eye toward new forms of payment encouraged by the health law.

The deal to buy Humana would boost Hartford, Conn.-based Aetna's Medicare business and give it scale to thrive as the industry consolidates.

Write to Chelsey Dulaney at [e-mail]

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