WellCare Health's (WCG) Q1 Earnings, Revenues Beat Estimates
Zacks Investment Research | May 03, 2017 10:14PM ET
WellCare Health Plans, Inc. (NYSE:WCG) reported first-quarter 2017 adjusted operating earnings of $1.61 per share that surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 35.3%. Earnings also surged 52% year over year, primarily due to continued operational execution as evidenced by strong results across all business lines.
Adjusted total premium revenue of $3.95 billion increased 13.5% year over year due to strong organic growth across all three lines of business and the company's acquisition of Care1st Arizona. Revenues also topped the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 2%.
Adjusted SG&A expenses increased 18% year over year to $298.2 million, primarily due to investments in staffing and infrastructure to support the growth, Care1st Arizona buyout and entry into the Nebraska Medicaid market. Adjusted SG&A expense ratio deteriorated 30 basis points (bps) from the year-ago quarter to 7.6%.
Quarterly Segment Update
Medicaid Health Plans:
The segment’s membership increased 10.3% over the last-year quarter to 2.6 million. The membership increase was primarily driven by the company's acquisition of Care1st Arizona and the launch of the company's Nebraska Medicaid business on Jan 1, 2017.
Adjusted Medicaid Health Plans premium revenues were $2.6 billion, up 14.7% year over year, primarily due to membership growth
Adjusted Medicaid Health Plans’ Medical Benefit Ratio (MBR) was 90.5%, up 60 bps from the last-year quarter.
Medicare Health Plans Segment Results:
Medicare Health Plans membership jumped 9.2% year over year to 0.356 million due to the company's 2017 bid positioning and execution of sales and retention initiatives.
Medicare Health Plans premium revenues increased 12.4% on a year-over-year basis to $1.1 billion. This was primarily due to the year-over-year membership decline as a result of the company's 2016 bid strategy.
The segment’s MBR was 83%, down 160 bps year over year. This was due to continued operational execution as well as the company's 2017 bid strategy.
Medicare Prescription Drug Plans (PDP) Segment Results
Medicare PDP membership was 1.1 million, up 7.2% year over year, primarily due to the company's 2017 bid positioning.
Medicare PDP premium revenues were $268.1 million, up 7.2% from the first quarter of 2016. This was mainly due to the segment’s membership growth.
The Medicare PDP segment’s MBR was 96.9%, up 260 bps from the prior-year quarter. This was due to improved operational execution and the company's 2017 bid positioning.
WellCare Health Plans, Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise
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