Earnings Preview: UnitedHealth Reports 3Q Earnings

Associated Press:

UnitedHealth took over Oregon's PacifCare in 2007. UnitedHealth covers over 14,000 Oregonians, mostly in the large group market and as a third-party administrator for national and international corporations that have employees in Oregon.

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- Managed care company UnitedHealth Group Inc. becomes the first major health insurer to report on its third-quarter performance when it releases earnings results Tuesday before the market opens.

WHAT TO WATCH FOR: The Minnetonka, Minn., company and several other big insurers trumped Wall Street expectations in the second quarter, as customers toned down their health care use, and insurers reported big gains because claims left over from previous quarters came in lower than expected. This was due in part to a swine flu scare that largely fizzled.

Citi Investment Research analyst Carl McDonald expects another robust performance in the third quarter mainly due to continued low utilization of health care. McDonald said in a Monday research note he expects UnitedHealth to report earnings of 94 cents per share, which is a dime higher than the consensus on Wall Street.

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