Second-quarter net income grew to $272 million, or 97 cents a share, from $198 million, or 68 cents, a year earlier, according to a statement by Cigna. Profit per share, excluding certain items, beat analysts' estimates.
Health-plan enrollment increased to 12.1 million, up 23 percent from a year earlier, for the insurer. Cigna gained 327,000 customers as a result of acquiring an Indiana company in August and 1.76 million from purchasing Great-West Healthcare in April, which represented all but 179,000 of the new members. Limited involvement in government programs such as Medicare has spared Cigna from claims increases that have hit competitors.
"Cigna is perceived to be the safest company in the group,'' of U.S. insurers, said Carl McDonald, an analyst with Oppenheimer & Co. in New York, in a telephone interview July 28 with Bloomberg. "They've done alright this year in the face of a difficult economic environment.''
Cigna rose 16 cents to $37.02 yesterday in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The company had the second-best performance this year through yesterday of the six members of the Standard & Poor's 500 Managed Health Care Index.