Shares of Humana (NYSE: HUM) are down 11.7% on Thursday after the health insurance giant announced weaker-than-expected quarterly results and light profit guidance for the coming year.
Humana's fourth-quarter revenue grew 17.9% year over year to $26.42 billion, beating expectations for revenue closer to $25.6 billion. On the bottom line, however, Humana swung to a non-GAAP (adjusted) quarterly net loss of $0.11 per share, compared to net income of $1.97 per share in the same year-ago period and well below expectations for a net profit of $0.92 per share.
In prepared remarks, Humana management admitted it's "disappointed with the impact of the late and unexpected development of higher [medical cost] trends on our 2023 results and 2024 outlook." But the company also noted those trends are an industrywide phenomenon, and don't change the "long-term attractiveness of this sector and [Humana's] position within it."
Source Fool.com