While most of the major sectors are showing only modest moves in morning trading on Tuesday, considerable strength has emerged among health insurance stocks. Centene (CNC) is helping to lead the sector higher after reporting better than expected fourth quarter earnings.
Reflecting the strength in the health insurance sector, the Morgan Stanley Healthcare Payor Index is currently up by 1.7 percent. The index is poised to end the session at a three-month closing.
Health insurer Centene is currently up by 6.1 percent after reaching its best intraday in almost five years. The gain by Centene comes after the company reported fourth quarter earnings of $0.50 per share, exceeding analyst estimates for earnings of $0.48 per share.
For full year 2011, Centene said it expects earnings in a range of $2.00 to $2.10 per share on premium and service revenues in a range between $4.9 billion and $5.1 billion. Analysts expect earnings of $2.05 per share on revenues of $5.03 billion.
Molina Healthcare (MOH) is also turning in a strong performance on the day, rising by 3.4 percent. At its high for the session, Molina was at its best intraday level in well over two years.
Aetna (AET), Amerigroup (AGP), and WellCare Health Plans (WCG) are also posting notable gains, contributing to the strength in the health insurance sector.
On the other hand, shares of Coventry Health Care (CVH) are currently down by 3.7 percent after the company reported better than expected fourth quarter earnings but forecast full year 2011 results below expectations. Coventry is pulling back off the well over two year high it set on Monday.
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