Health insurer Aetna Inc.’s first-quarter profits rose 8 percent on increased premiums, membership growth and continued cost-cutting measures, the company said last week.
Aetna earned $434.6 million, or 81 cents a share, for the January-March period, up from $401.7 million, or 68 cents a share, a year ago.
The results beat Wall Street projections. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial were looking for earnings of 77 cents per share.
Revenue for the quarter was $6.7 billion, up from $6.2 billion in the same quarter in 2006.
Joseph M. Zubretsky, Aetna’s chief financial officer, said that based on first quarter results the company was raising the annual operating earnings per share estimate to $3.35 for the year and 79 cents per share for second quarter. Aetna said earnings per share would be $3.30 for the year when it released its fourth-quarter earnings in February.
The company said that its medical membership increased by 270,000 in the first three months of 2007 to 15.7 million. Ron Williams, chairman and chief executive, said membership growth is expected to be between 575,000 and 600,000 for the year.
