UnitedHealth beats Q2 profit estimates, raises Change Healthcare hack costs

UnitedHealth Group reported a better-than-expected profit for the second quarter on Tuesday, due to strength in its healthcare services unit and raised the cost estimates tied to a hack at its tech unit earlier this year.

The company said on Tuesday it had restored the majority of the affected Change Healthcare services. The February hack at the unit, which processes about 50% of U.S. medical claims, caused widespread disruption in payments to doctors and healthcare facilities.
 

UnitedHealth currently estimated the total 2024 impact from the hack to be between $1.90 to $2.05 per share. It had previously projected a hit of $1.15 to $1.35 per share.

Meanwhile, the company's medical loss ratio - the percentage of premiums spent on medical care was 85.1% in the second quarter, compared with 83.2% a year earlier.
 

Analysts on average expected the industry bellwether to report a ratio of 84.40%.
 

UnitedHealth posted an adjusted quarterly profit per share of $6.80, compared with analysts' average estimate of $6.66, according to LSEG data.
 

Shares fell 2% to $505.01 choppy premarket trading after rising earlier.