Investor’s Watch List: Aetna Inc (NYSE:AET), Medidata Solutions Inc (NASDAQ:MDSO)
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Shares of Aetna Inc (NYSE:AET) declined -1.09% to $153.31 on Tuesday. UnitedHealth Group Inc, the leading U.S. health insurer, on Tuesday stated a better-than-predictable quarterly profit, boosted by having put the Obamacare individual insurance business behind it.
UnitedHealth was losing money selling these plans when it pulled out of this market, as it and other insurers questioned the sustainability of former President Barack Obama’s health reform law.
Republicans have vowed repeatedly to repeal and replace the law, but have disagreed on how to do that. A Senate effort collapsed late on Monday, prompting U.S. President Donald Trump to again call for a repeal of Obamacare with no replacement.
UnitedHealth CEO Stephen Hemsley said during a call with Wall Street analysts on Tuesday that he was optimistic about the business next year, but that national and state healthcare policy were a possible drag on profit in 2018.
“At this stage in the national conversation, speculation about any outcome here would be just that,” Hemsley said.
The bill’s failure removed one of the benefits of the bill for insurers – the planned repeal of an industry wide health insurance tax, Leerink Partners analyst Ana Gupte said.
UnitedHealth shares fell 0.7 percent to $184.97 in midday trading. Other insurers like Aetna Inc, Anthem Inc, Cigna Corp and Humana Inc were also down on the news. (Source: Reuters)
The stock settled at $153.31 per share, after floating in a range of $152.60 to $155.00. The stock moved on high volume, traded at a volume of 2.50M shares, as compared to its average daily volume of 1.84M shares. The market capitalization for the company is reported at $50.76B.
Medidata Solutions Inc (NASDAQ:MDSO) opened at $82.00. It reached an intraday trading high of $85.92 and closed at $80.19. Medidata Solutions Inc. (MDSO) on Tuesday stated second-quarter profit of $8.3 million. On a per-share basis, the New York-based company said it had net income of 14 cents. Earnings, adjusted for one-time gains and costs, were 31 cents per share. The results beat Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of eight analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 29 cents per share. The research software maker posted revenue of $137.4 million in the period, also topping Street forecasts. Five analysts surveyed by Zacks predictable $134.5 million. Medidata anticipates full-year revenue in the range of $538 million to $562 million.
The stock price declined -0.81 points or -1.00% at the market. The total volume traded for the day is 1.97M higher as compared to its average daily volume of 870,577 shares. The current EPS for the company has been recorded at $0.57 and the beta value recorded by the company stands at 1.80 points.