Centene Q1 Earnings Top Views

reported better-than-expected earnings for the first quarter. The St. Louis, Missouri-based company posted quarterly earnings of $63 million, or $0.51 per share, compared to $33 million, or $0.28 per share, in the year-ago period. It earnings from continuing operations came in at $0.52 per share. Its revenue climbed to $5.13 billion from $3.46 billion. However, analysts were expecting a profit of $0.48 per share on revenue of $5.12 billion. Premium and service revenue climbed 42 percent year-over-year to $4.8 billion for the first quarter. Cash flow from operations was $45 million for the quarter. At March 31, 2015, Centene had cash, investments and restricted deposits of $3.4 billion. The average estimate among 8 Estimize users was for earnings of $0.54 per share and revenue of $5.09 billion. Michael F. Neidorff, Centene's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, stated, "We had a strong start to 2015, delivering exceptional top and bottom line growth compared to last year. We continue to be successful in executing on our robust growth pipeline while maintaining operational discipline." For the full year, Centene projects earnings of $2.60 to $2.72 per share, on revenue of $20.5 billion to $21 billion. Analysts had expected earnings of $2.63 per share on revenue of $21.9 billion. Centene shares gained 1.14 percent to $71.60 in after-hours trading.