Big LV health insurer beats profit expectations

Wednesday, Aug. 1, 2001 | 11:09 a.m.

PacifiCare Health Systems Inc., the No. 2 health insurer in Nevada, on Tuesday reported a second quarter profit of $15.3 million or 45 cents per share on revenue of $3 billion.

While beating analyst estimates of 33 cents per share, the profit included a one-time gain of 11 cents per share from the sale of securities.

Because of escalating health care costs the results were down from the second quarter of 2000, when PacifiCare earned $69 million or $1.96 per share on revenue of $2.9 billion.

But cash flow improved from $80.3 million in the first quarter to $87.3 million in the second quarter.

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