Health Net Q4 Profit Plunges, Boosts 2015 EPS Outlook - Quick Facts

(RTTNews) - Health Net, Inc. (HNT) announced that fourth-quarter net income plunged to $4.91 million or $0.06 per share from $19.75 million or $0.25 per share in the prior-year quarter.

The company said it incurred $72.1 million of pretax expenses in the latest quarter primarily related to its master services agreement with a wholly owned subsidiary of Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp.

The company's Western region operations and government contracts segments produced combined net income of $47.4 million or $0.60 per share, sharply higher than $19.1 million or $0.24 per share last year.

Health Net's total revenues for the quarter surged 37.0 percent to $3.76 billion from $2.74 billion in the same quarter last year.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $0.57 per share on revenues of $3.97 billion for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Looking ahead to fiscal 2015, the company raised earnings guidance to at least $2.70 per share from the prior forecast of at least $2.55 per share, on projected revenue growth of about 23 percent. Street is currently looking for full-year 2015 earnings of $3.21 per share on annual revenue growth of 25.2 percent to $17.79 billion.