Humana Fourth Quarter Earnings Sneak Peek

S&P 500 (NYSE:SPY) component Humana (NYSE:HUM) will unveil its latest earnings tomorrow, Monday, February 4, 2013. Humana is a managed health care company that offers health and supplemental benefit products.

Humana Earnings Preview Cheat Sheet

Wall St. Earnings Expectations: The average estimate of analysts is for profit of $1.08 per share, a decline of 3.6% from the company’s actual earnings for the same quarter a year ago. During the past three months, the average estimate has moved down from $1.28. Between one and three months ago, the average estimate moved down. It has been unchanged at $1.08 during the last month. For the year, analysts are projecting net income of $7.53 per share, a decline of 3.7% from last year.

Past Earnings Performance: The company is looking to make a streak of three quarters of beating estimates. Last quarter, it beat expectations by reporting profit of $2.41 per share, and the previous quarter, it had net income of $2.34.

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Stock Price Performance: Between November 29, 2012 and January 29, 2013, the stock price had risen $8.79 (13.4%), from $65.73 to $74.52. The stock price saw one of its best stretches over the last year between March 22, 2012 and March 30, 2012, when shares rose for seven straight days, increasing 8.4% (+$7.18) over that span. It saw one of its worst periods between May 10, 2012 and May 18, 2012 when shares fell for seven straight days, dropping 6.1% (-$4.87) over that span.

Wall St. Revenue Expectations: Analysts predict a rise of 7.3% in revenue from the year-earlier quarter to $9.72 billion.

A Look Back: In the third quarter, profit fell 4.2% to $426 million ($2.62 a share) from $444.8 million ($2.67 a share) the year earlier, but exceeded analyst expectations. Revenue rose 3.8% to $9.65 billion from $9.3 billion.

Here’s how Humana traded following its last earnings report 3 months ago and leading up to its upcoming earnings report this week: