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WellPoint

  • Finding Alpha in the Healthcare Space

    By Meena Krishnamsetty - February 6, 2013 | Tickers: MRK, ONXX, PFE, UNH, WLP

    I'm a big fan of healthcare stocks.  Everyone spends money on healthcare at some point in his or her life.  Sometimes circumstances are unfortunate, but there is good money to be made in the healthcare business.  This industry features healthcare insurers, drug manufacturers, retirement home operators, medical equipment manufacturers and more.  You can choose from low-beta insurers like UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH), or you can get into some higher more »

  • Health Insurers Trapped by Need for Growth

    By Dana Blankenhorn - January 17, 2013 | Tickers: AET, UNH, WLP | Editor's Choice

    Editor's Note: WellPoint purchased Resolution Health, not Revolution Health. This version has been corrected.

    Health insurers are trapped by a need for growth. Without growth in insureds, in patient count, they can depend on shrinking margins and stock prices. So everyone is buying access to patients, and technology that can help them serve those patients for less, knowing that health reform is not going away.

    Under the Affordable Care more »

  • Insure Your Portfolio With This Company

    By Adam Levy - January 4, 2013 | Tickers: AFL, UNH, WLP

    Everybody knows the Aflac (NYSE: AFL) duck, right? The charming little guy that up until recently was voice by expert bird-voice actor Gilbert Gottfried. He’s responsible for the growing popularity of the company in the United States.

    What a lot of people don’t know is that the company does the vast majority of its business in Japan (where a cat joins the duck and they perform dances together more »

  • Is Your Portfolio Insured by This Company?

    By Ryan Guenette - January 2, 2013 | Tickers: AET, CVH, HUM, UNH, WLP

    A SWOT analysis is a look at a company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, and is a great way to gain a detailed and thorough perspective on a company and its future. As 2012 year draws to a close, I would like to focus on a leader in the health insurance industry: UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH).

     

    Strengths:

    • Solid Revenue Growth: In 2006, UnitedHealth reported revenue of $71.7 billion more »

  • Study: New Healthcare Law To Have 'Negative Impact' on Bottom Line of Even Small Firms

    By Gene J. Koprowski - December 28, 2012 | Tickers: AET, CBEY, PZZA, WLP

    A new, general market survey confirms the dire predictions made by health insurance analysts: the new federal health care law will "negatively impact the bottom line" of many U.S. firms.

    This adverse impact will harm not just profitability, and dividends, but new capital equipment investment, in computers and networking technology, as well will be a drain on “general market conditions,” according to the survey of CEOs by Cbeyond (NASDAQ: CBEYmore »)

  • Billionaire Thomas Steyer’s Farallon Likes These Cheap Stocks

    By Meena Krishnamsetty - December 19, 2012 | Tickers: AAPL, GD, COL, STT, WLP

    Farallon Capital Management is one of the largest hedge funds in the world, with over $20 billion in assets under management at the beginning of 2012. Thomas Steyer, who founded the firm in 1986, has become a billionaire due to Farallon’s success over time. As a major investor, Farallon discloses many of its long equity positions in 13F filings six to seven weeks after the end of the quarter more »

  • 5 Stocks Targeted by Billionaire Activist Investor Dan Loeb

    By Meena Krishnamsetty - December 12, 2012 | Tickers: CCE, NWL, SLE, UTX, WLP

    Billionaire Daniel Loeb founded his New York-based hedge fund Third Point Management in 1995 with just over $3 million. Since its inception, the fund has returned roughly 25% annually. Loeb graduated from Columbia University in 1983 and worked at Jefferies & Company and Citibank before starting Third Point. Loeb is considered an activist investor that takes outsized positions to “strong arm” companies into making changes, so to speak. We believe that more »

  • Billionaire Dan Loeb’s Cheap Stock Picks

    By Meena Krishnamsetty - November 29, 2012 | Tickers: AIG, CI, DLPH, UNH, WLP

    Billionaire Dan Loeb is best known for his activist investing, but his fund Third Point simply manages too much capital to be purely focused on activist crusades like Loeb’s recent replacement of Yahoo’s CEO. For example, Third Point’s recent 13F revealed a number of stocks in the fund’s portfolio that are priced very low in terms of their trailing earnings. Naturally, many of these stocks trade more »

  • 3 Companies Betting Big on Acquisitions

    By Shweta Dubey - November 19, 2012 | Tickers: CHRW, LINTA, WLP

    With the aim of generating greater value for their shareholders, the three companies mentioned below are focusing vigorously on deals & acquisitions to boost their sales figures. These companies have performed fairly well this year & all three companies have reported good 3Q12 results. Looking at their future plans and growth potential, I expect them to continue the upside trend.

    Let’s have a look at these stocks in detail:

    C.H more »

  • Three Dividend Stocks That Will Fetch High Yields

    By Cecil Sales - November 12, 2012 | Tickers: AMGN, CSCO, WLP

    Dividend growth stocks are an excellent way of increasing the return from your original investment. I generally tend to hold on to these stocks for a while. A stock with an ever-increasing dividend yield will pay out higher returns on the original amount thanks to the power of compounding. So let’s take a look at three of these companies whose shares might be able to fetch high yields in more »

  • Can CVS and Express Scripts Sustain Their Rebound Relationship?

    By Ramesh Malayappan - November 6, 2012 | Tickers: CTRX, CVS, ESRX, RAD, SHLD, TGT, KR, WMT, WAG, WLP

    Express Scripts (NASDAQ: ESRX) and CVS Caremark (NYSE: CVS) report third quarter results on Monday, Nov. 5 and Tuesday, Nov. 6, respectively.  What they report should be interesting to watch because they are both apparently in a rebound relationship after Express Scripts broke up with Walgreen (NYSE: WAG) over contractual terms last year.  Unfortunately for Walgreen, Express Scripts apparently had the upper hand as patients migrated over to CVS and more »

  • 2 Undervalued Insurers to Buy, 1 to Avoid

    By David Gould - October 29, 2012 | Tickers: CIG, UNH, WLP

    In an uncertain health and financial market, insurers are selling quite cheaply. However, some actually have too much growth factored in, given the risk. Others have catalysts that are unaccounted for. Still others offer stability.

    UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH) is Too Expensive Despite Catalyst

    UnitedHealth is one of the prime beneficiaries of the Affordable Care Act, since the law expands Medicaid. The company is still well diversified and comes equipped more »

  • How to Play the Healthcare Plan Market

    By David Gould - October 10, 2012 | Tickers: AET, UNH, WLP

    The bad news is that uncertainty in the healthcare plan market has added risk to investor portfolios. The good news is that large healthcare firms have taken advantage of the environment by scooping up undervalued businesses in a frenzy of takeovers. In my view, the best takeovers in managed care will come abroad and away from US government programs. Some producers have taken this same attitude while others have diverged more »

  • Healthcare Insurance Sector Still Hot for M&A

    By Tony Daltorio - October 10, 2012 | Tickers: AET, CI, UNH, WLP

    One thing can definitely be said for President Obama's attempt at healthcare reform: It certainly lit a fire under healthcare insurers' mergers and acquisitions. More than $18 billion in M&A activity has occurred over the past 12 months, but the wheeling and dealing in the sector is likely not done yet. In fact, on the international scene, it may just be starting.

  • Billionaire David Einhorn’s Favorite Healthcare Stock

    By Meena Krishnamsetty - October 10, 2012 | Tickers: AET, CI, CVH, HUM, WLP

    One of the top fund managers at the Value Investing Congress was David Einhorn of Greenlight Capital. Einhorn outlined two short ideas, as well as two long ideas. The biggest Einhorn surprise was an investment thesis for a long position in Cigna Corporation (NYSE: CI). Cigna Corp provides employee benefits, such as healthcare products and services.

    During his presentation, Einhorn noted that the added complexity of the company has discouraged more »

  • Should Investors Buy This Healthcare Giant?

    By Meena Krishnamsetty - October 5, 2012 | Tickers: AET, CI, CVH, UNH, WLP

    In August, the healthcare giant Aetna (NYSE: AET) announced plans to purchase Coventry Health Care (NYSE: CVH) for $5.7 billion. However, in an announcement earlier this week Coventry investors filed a lawsuit against the $5.6 billion takeover, saying that it unfairly enriches the company’s top executives while shortchanging Coventry investors.

    The deal values Coventry Health at $42.08, with the company currently trading around $41.80. The more »

  • Here's to Your Investing Health

    By Kyle Metivier - September 30, 2012 | Tickers: CI, XLV, VTR, WLP

    “The first wealth is health.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

    I haven’t written much (translation: anything), about healthcare stocks due in large part to the Obamacare/Nobamacare/election, fracas that is swimming around every one of us like starving sharks at feeding time. Following the Supreme Court’s ruling concerning the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA, more commonly referred to as Obamacare), I think it’s time I started more »

  • Why You Should Buy These Health Insurers

    By David Gould - September 26, 2012 | Tickers: AET, UNH, WLP

    The country's leading health insurer, UnitedHealth (NYSE: UNH) trades at less than 10x forward earnings at a time when it is likely to get a nice stream of free cash flow from the Affordable Care Act. As the insured population increases, greater demand and risk will be placed on resources to help raise premiums. 

    UnitedHealth

    Analysts forecast 11.2% annual EPS growth over the next 5 years, which gives more »

  • Is WellPoint A Good Buy After its CEO's Departure?

    By Meena Krishnamsetty - September 6, 2012 | Tickers: AGP, ESRX, UNH, WLP

    WellPoint (NYSE: WLP) disappointed last quarter and has repeatedly underperformed competitors. Many large investors believed that management was mostly to blame for the poor performance, leading them to pressure the board to remove CEO Angela Braly, who resigned late Tuesday, effective immediately.

    Braly's exit, while abrupt, was not unexpected. Various WellPoint shareholders had written open letters to the board calling for a change as their disappointment over the company more »

  • How to Hedge a Romney Win – And Get Paid!

    By Matthew DiLallo - September 5, 2012 | Tickers: AET, CI, CVH, UNH, WLP

    I don’t know about you, but my crystal ball is busted.  With it went my ability to predictively navigate the uncertainties that lie ahead.  One of the chief uncertainties is knowing who’ll win come November.  Each candidate’s agenda has both winners and losers so while we can’t with certainty invest to win we can at least hedge to thrive in either outcome.

    Republican candidate Mitt Romney more »