Cigna (CI) Q4 Earnings And Revenues Beat Estimates, Rise Y/Y

Cigna Corp. (NYSE:CI) came up with adjusted earnings of $4.54 per share in fourth-quarter 2019, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 2.9%. Quarterly earnings were up 75% year over year.

Cigna’s revenues of $36.6 billion beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 3.7%. Revenues grew 167% year over year owing to the acquisition of Express Scripts (NASDAQ:ESRX).

Among the revenue components, pharmacy revenues were $25.6 billion compared with $3.3 billion in the year-ago quarter, premiums were up 9.8% year over year to $10 billion while fees increased 50.2% to $2.2 billion. The growth in pharmacy revenues was backed by the acquisition of pharmacy benefit manager Express Scripts.

The company’s medical enrollment grew by 184,000 lives from the prior-year quarter to 17.15 million customers, driven by growth in Commercial and International markets.

Cigna Corporation Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

Segment Details

Health Services – Adjusted revenues of $25.6 billion were up from $3.3 billion in the year-ago quarter, primarily due to the acquisition of Express Scripts completed in December 2018.

Integrated Medical – Adjusted revenues of $9.2 billion were up 11% year over year, driven by increase in Commercial customer as well as premium growth.

International Markets – Adjusted revenues of $1.43 billion were up 5.5% year over year, reflecting continued business growth.

Capital Position

Cigna’s debt-to-capitalization ratio improved to 45.2% as on Dec 31, 2019, from 50.9% as of Dec 31, 2018.

Shareholders’ equity as of Dec 31, 2019 was $45.3 billion, up 10.5% year over year.

2020 Guidance

The company expects earnings per share in the range of $18-$18.6; adjusted revenues in the range of $154 billion to $156 billion. Medical customers are projected to grow between 150,000 and 250,000.
Medical care ratio is expected in the range of 80.2-81.2%.

Cigna carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Some other stocks in the healthcare space that have reported fourth-quarter earnings so far, UnitedHealth Group Inc. (NYSE:UNH) and Humana Inc. (NYSE:HUM) beat earnings estimates by 3.45% and 3.64%, respectively, while Centene Corp. (NYSE:CNC) missed the same by 1.4%.

"More Stock News: This Is Bigger than the iPhone!

It could become the mother of all technological revolutions. Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) sold a mere 1 billion iPhones in 10 years but a new breakthrough is expected to generate more than 27 billion devices in just 3 years, creating a $1.7 trillion market.

Zacks has just released a Special Report that spotlights this fast-emerging phenomenon and 6 tickers for taking advantage of it. If you don't buy now, you may kick yourself in 2020.

Click here for the 6 trades >>

"