WellCare’s (WCG) Profit Target Weak

According to Wall Street Journal, WellCare Health Plans Inc. (NYSE: WCG) rebounded from a prior-year write-down to post a profit of $26 million, or 26 cents a share. It had posted a loss of $31.1 million a year earlier.

WellCare Inc. forecast 2010 earnings of $1.90 to $2.15 a share, way below the analysts’ expectations of $2.56 per share. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters forecast earnings of 44 cents a share on revenues of $1.61 billion. The stock has more than doubled in the past one year. The company paid $80 million in May 2009 to settle a Florida Medicaid fraud investigation.