On Friday, Florida announced awards for its statewide Medicaid management program.
This includes the state's two core Medicaid managed care programs, the Managed Care Assistance Program and the Long Term Care Program. Centene (NYSE:), Humana (NYSE:), and Elevance Health (ELV) have all secured statewide contracts and will join two local companies to serve their respective regions.
CNC stock soared in the opening hours of trading on Monday, hitting a high of $75.92. The stock is currently $73.81, up more than 4% from Friday's closing price. Meanwhile, shares of Molina Healthcare (NYSE:) fell more than 4% after losing the state contract.
In a note to clients reacting to the news, Oppenheimer analysts said that the best-case scenario for Centene was to maintain its share, and that it was “much more likely than any expected significant loss due to market share gains.” Good.'' . ”
Analysts say the market sees the refinancing as a big win for CNC, which “should have a positive impact on the stock price, especially given the recent disappointment with smaller refinancings.”
TD Cowen also released a memo addressing the news. “We believe investors have priced in CNC's ceded shares to some degree, and view this result as incrementally positive for the company and a meaningful win for the company's performance,” they wrote.
