Anthem Inc (NYSE:ANTM) reported earnings for the fourth quarter that fell short of consensus by three cents a share. However, the company’s revenue came in line with predictions for the same period. The company reiterated its earnings outlook for fiscal year 2016 while it expects to improve its strategy once its acquisition of Cigna Corporation (NYSE:CI) is completed in the second half of this year.
Click Here For More Market Exclusive Updates & Analysis
Outlook below Expectations
Anthem Inc (NYSE:ANTM) provided earnings and other guidance for fiscal year 2016 earlier this month. The company has reaffirmed it now. Accordingly, the health insurance firm is looking at delivering minimum earnings of $10.80 a share, which is ten cents short of the Capital IQ consensus expectations. The company sees its membership at between 38.8 and 39 million for 2016.
As far as the fully insured membership is concerned, the company is looking to close the year with 14.6 – 14.7 million while self-funded membership is predicted between 24.2 and 24.3 million. The firm expects to deliver operating revenue of $80 to $81 billion. That was well short of the $85.57 billion that analysts were looking for. Anthem is also looking to achieve more than $3.0 billion operating cash flow.
Revenue Growth In Q3
Q3 was not much better than the current quarter. Last quarter, Anthem reported 6.6% year over year growth in revenue to $20.2 billion. That was better than the Capital IQ consensus of $19.89 billion revenue. The problem was that adjusted net income per share dropped 38.7% to $1.14. On a GAAP basis, net income plummeted 64.3% to $180.9 million while earnings dropped 62.2% to 68 cents a share for the third quarter.