UnitedHealth Group, the largest health insurance company in the U.S., was the top performer in S&P 500 Tuesday morning after it reported higher-than expected revenue amid the fallout of a massive cyberattack earlier this year.
UnitedHealth stock rose 6% to about $471 on Tuesday, following the insurer’s first quarterly earnings report since hackers targeted is subsidiary Change Healthcare. Change is a healthcare record and payment manager that processes 14 billion transactions a year.
“The core story at UnitedHealth Group remains our colleagues delivering improved experiences for the people we serve and driving balanced growth even while swiftly and effectively addressing the attack on Change Healthcare,” said UnitedHealth Group CEO Andrew Witty in a press release.
In February, the ransomware group ALPHV breached Change Healthcare, delaying prescriptions and paychecks for healthcare workers. Federal investigators launched a probe in March looking into whether patient information was exposed in the attack.
On Tuesday, United said the impact of the cyberattack amounted to $0.74 a share in the three months ending March 31. Throughout the year, it expects the attack to cost the company $1.15 to $1.35 per share. The company said it is incurring both direct costs in restoring the Change Healthcare platform and business disruption costs like revenue loss. UnitedHealth adjusted its full year net earnings guidance to $17.60 to $18.20 per share.
UnitedHealth’s first quarter, by the digits
UnitedHealth’s net income plummeted 122% in in the three months ending March 31, to a loss of $1.22 billion from a profit of $5.6 billion in the same period the prior year.
The company’s revenue was up 8% year-over-year to $99.7 billion in the first quarter, from $92 billion. This was slightly above Wall Street expectations of $99.2 billion.
Its earnings per share came to $6.91, outperforming Wall Street expectations of $6.61, according to a consensus estimate from analysts surveyed by FactSet.