Dive Brief:
- Health insurer Cigna had a strong third quarter, with net income growing by almost 19 percent over the previous year's $466 million.
- Cigna reported total revenue of $8 billion for Q3 '13, up 10 percent from about $7.3 billion for Q3 '12.
- While revenue climbed almost 13 percent for nine months ending Sept. 30, hitting $24.2 billion, the insurer's net income for the first nine months of this year was down 8 percent at $1.1 billion.
Dive Insight:
Cigna's overall financial picture looks fairly rosy, particularly given that slip in income over nine months is due to a one-time event, a $781 million transaction with Berkshire Hathaway to exit its reinsurance business. In further good news, it beat Wall Street earnings per share estimates, hitting $1.89 per share when $1.62 per share was expected by analysts. Small wonder that Cigna is ranked as a "buy" stock by Zacks Equity Research. Now the question is whether the new ACA insureds come in in great numbers; given Cigna's position, it seems like those new customers would be the icing on the cake.