Elevance Health Sheds 469K Members, Benefit Costs Rise; Shares Drop 7.8%
ELV sits 45% above its 52-week low of $273.71.
Summary
Elevance Health reported a 469,000 sequential membership decline to 44.9 million, driven by attrition in ACA, Medicaid, and a 15.9% drop in Medicare Advantage. The benefit-expense ratio worsened to 89.7% from 88.9%, signaling higher medical costs. Despite beating Q2 adjusted EPS estimates ($7.45 vs. $6.21) and raising full-year guidance to at least $27.00, shares fell 7.8% premarket as the membership and cost trends overshadowed the earnings beat. The company disclosed double-digit ACA rate hikes, including 24% in some states, with requests up to 17% for 2027, reflecting ongoing pressure from rising government medical costs and reduced federal subsidies. This follows earlier guidance raises today, but the membership and cost details are new and negative.
At the time of this announcement, ELV was trading at $395.80 on NYSE in the Trade & Services sector, with a market capitalization of approximately $92.7B. The 52-week trading range was $273.71 to $436.24. This news item was assessed with negative market sentiment and an importance score of 8 out of 10. Source: Dow Jones Newswires.