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Related Companies Health Net Inc. (HNT)

Related Documents Earnings Release (ER) Health Net Inc. 9/30/2009, filed on 11/3/2009 8-K Health Net Inc. 11/3/2009, filed on 11/3/2009

Related Articles 9/9/2009 Health Net reiterates outlook for FY'09

Health Net Inc. on Nov. 3 updated its guidance for 2009 with expected GAAP EPS of 51 cents to 56 cents, assuming weighted average fully diluted shares outstanding ranging between 104 million and 105 million.

Previously, GAAP EPS for the year was expected to be in the range of $1.85 to $2.10.

The outlook for the year includes the impact of $100 million to $110 million in anticipated operations strategy-related pretax charges for the year and additional charges related to the pending sale of the Northeast business the company expects to take in 2009.

Excluding the impact of anticipated operations strategy-related pretax charges, the company anticipates non-GAAP EPS for the year to be between $2.25 and $2.30, compared to prior estimates of $2.25 to $2.35 in non-GAAP EPS.

The company lowered the top end of its earnings guidance range 5 cents per share due to expected health care cost pressures in the fourth quarter from higher utilization due to the H1N1 flu virus and continued expansion of its COBRA membership.

According to SNL Financial, the Thomson First Call mean earnings estimate for 2009 was $2.17 per share.

Health Net expects consolidated revenues for the period to range from $15.5 billion to $16.0 billion, remaining consistent with the previous outlook.

The company expects year-end memberships for commercial risk to decline between 6% and 7% and year-end memberships for Medicare Advantage and PDP to decline 1% to 2% and 13% to 15%, respectively. Medicaid year-end memberships are expected to increase between 10% and 12%.

In the previous outlook, the company expected year-end memberships for commercial risk to decline 3% to 5%; year-end memberships for PDP to fall 15% to 20%; and Medicaid year-end memberships to rise between 6% and 8%.

The selling cost ratio for the year is expected to be about 2.9%; the government contracts ratio is expected to be between 95.0% and 95.5%; and the G&A expense ratio, excluding the impact of anticipated operations strategy-related pretax charges, is expected to be about 9.6% to 9.8%.

Health Net also reported a net loss of $66.0 million, or 64 cents per share, for the quarter ended Sept. 30, compared to net income of $18.5 million, or 17 cents per share, in the year-ago period.