Centene Q2 2026: EPS $2.19, HBR improves to 89.6%, guidance floors raised
Centene swung from a $253 million loss a year ago to $1.09 billion of net income this quarter, cut its health benefits ratio to 89.6% and raised its full-year earnings floors — a better quarter than the headline EPS suggests. The catch: membership fell to 25.9 million, and the guidance implies a second-half loss.
1 · Expected vs. Actual
Free preview belowGAAP diluted EPS was $2.19 versus a loss of $0.51 a year ago, and adjusted diluted EPS was $2.51 versus a loss of $0.16. Both roughly doubled the consensus estimate of $1.0959. The $0.32 gap between GAAP and adjusted is mostly acquired-intangible amortization, with $0.09 of other adjustments, largely severance and enterprise optimization costs.
Premium and service revenues rose 4.5% to $44.375 billion from $42.467 billion, while total revenues including premium tax jumped 9.9% to $53.579 billion. Note the mismatch in the structured data: revenue is tagged at $44.375 billion but the filing also shows $53.579 billion, and the prior-year comparison of $48.742 billion is on the total-revenue basis, so a careless read says revenue fell 9.0% when like-for-like it rose. Growth came from premium yield, PDP membership and state directed payments, not volume — total at-risk membership dropped 7.6% to 25.9 million from 28.0 million.
Management raised the 2026 GAAP diluted EPS floor to greater than $3.11 and the adjusted floor to greater than $4.80, and lifted the total revenue range by $6.0 billion to $193.5 billion to $197.5 billion. The band is narrow: the $195.5 billion midpoint sits within 1.02% of each end. The striking part is what the floor implies — first-half GAAP EPS was already $5.30, so the year only works if the second half is negative.
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Figures on this page come from the company's original SEC filings. The analysis is generated automatically and checked against validation rules, but may still contain errors or omissions. Not investment advice. · Generated 2026-09-17
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