UPDATE: Centene Q3 Profit Tops Estimates

Centene (NYSE: CNC) reported upbeat earnings for the third quarter. The St. Louis, Missouri-based company posted a quarterly net profit of $82.6 million, or $1.36 per share, versus a year-ago profit of $49.4 million or $0.87 per share. Excluding certain items, Centene earned $1.22 per share. Its total revenue climbed to $4.35 billion from $2.8 billion. However, analysts had projected a profit of $0.96 per share on revenue of $4.23 billion.Premium and Service revenue rose 53% to $4.2 billion versus $2.7 billion.As of Sept. 30, its total membership count rose 42% y/y to 3.7 million.At Sept 30, 2014, Centene had cash, investments and restricted deposits of $2,898.6 million, including $70.3 million held by its unregulated entities.Michael F. Neidorff, Centene's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, stated, "The underlying operations performed well during the quarter, delivering over 50% revenue growth over 2013. We continue to successfully execute our growth strategy and expect performance to remain strong over the remainder of 2014."Centene shares rose 0.42% to close at $82.22 yesterday.