Cigna Corp.’s first-quarter net income jumped 52 percent as medical claims fell and the international business grew again, and it raised its 2011 profit forecast like other big health insurers that also beat expectations for the quarter, The Associated Press reports.
The Philadelphia company with major claims operations based in Bloomfield said Thursday earnings in health care, its largest segment, climbed 47 percent, and premiums and fees from its international business rose 32 percent, fueled in part by the company’s purchase of the Belgian company Vanbreda International last year.
Cigna earned $429 million, or $1.57 per share, in the three months that ended March 31. That’s up from the $283 million, or $1.02 per share, last year. Revenue climbed 4 percent to $5.41 billion from $5.21 billion.
Adjusted income from operations, which excludes some one-time items, totaled $1.37 per share.
Analyst surveyed by FactSet expected earnings of $1.09 per share on $5.49 billion in revenue.
Cigna, the fourth-largest health insurer based on enrollment, operates health care, group disability and life segments in the U.S. It also sells individual insurance in several countries and operates an expatriate business that provides coverage for people living outside their home countries.
The insurer’s largest expense, health care medical claims, fell 6 percent in the quarter to about $2.08 billion.
