Managed Health Care

According to Jefferies, Humana (NYSE: HUM) strong results and guidance depict solid execution against strategy, in combination with favorable utilization tailwinds. Jefferies said that stock action has decoupled, at least temporarily, from fundamentals in managed care. The market is stretching to...

Goldman Sachs has raised the price target on Humana (NYSE: HUM) from $96 to $100 and maintains its Neutral rating.

Credit Suisse made a number of updates in a research report published today. Annaly Capital Management (NYSE: NLY) had its rating reiterated at Outperform. On Monday, NLY added 4.23% to its value to finish the day at $17.49. Its shares continued to climb in today's pre-market trading, rising 0.97...

Stocks trading at or near 52-week highs and lows provide excellent trading opportunities, as volatility tends to increase at such levels and exit/entry points become more clearly defined. The following stocks hit new 52-week highs in Monday's trading session (listed from highest total volume to...

Below are the top small-cap accident & health insurance stocks on the NYSE and the NASDAQ in terms of cash. CNO Financial Group Inc (NYSE: CNO) had $830.80 million in total cash and $2.51 billion in total debt for the latest quarter. StanCorp Financial Group Inc (NYSE: SFG) had $111.10...

Finally. Mercifully. The gang on Capitol Hill narrowly beat the deadline to extend the $14.3 trillion U.S. debt ceiling. The House passed the measure on Monday and the Senate is scheduled to vote on it today. The news is a welcome relief, but there are no guarantees stocks and other riskier...

VelocityShares Daily 2x VIX Short Term ETN (NYSE: TVIX) led the decliners among the ETFs on Monday, with a 8.41% loss. TVIX closed at $19.38, and it had a volume of 4.20M traded shares. Direxion Daily Real Estate Bull 3X (ETF) (NYSE: DRN) lost 4.89%, and closed at $71.19. In the real estate space...

Cusick's Corner This is a headline market, so try not to be the hero and get too opinionated. All the major markets are at the critical support level of the 200-Day Moving Average and the last test was in June. Holding these levels into the close was important and I like the fact that VIX,...

Cusick's Corner Well the market initially thought that a deal on the Debt ceiling was very close to being made but the reality is that the data is weak and the market is taking notice. I spoke about that last week that we can see the debt, we can anticipate where it is going and the impact on...

CIGNA (NYSE: CI) announces its next round of earnings this Thursday, August 4, 2011. Here is Benzinga's everything-that-matters guide for this Thursday's second quarter earnings announcement. Earnings and Revenue: Ahead of the company's earnings announcement, analysts are expecting a positive...

By Jared Rosenbaum I have a feeling that this weekend, and in fact this whole coming week, will go down as one of the most pivotal times in the history of our country. For the past week we have been the laughing stock of the world, as a few hundred people in DC hold the entire country hostage....

Jefferies & Company has published a research report on Coventry Health Care (NYSE: CVH) after the company reported 2Q results. In the report, Jefferies writes, "2Q EPS beat consensus by 6%, but the new 2011 EPS guidance midpoint was 4% below consensus. The underwhelming 2011 EPS guidance...

Allstate Corp (NYSE: ALL) swung to a second quarter loss on Monday. Allstate reported a quarterly loss of $642 million, or $1.19 per share, versus a profit of $441 million, or $0.27 per share, in the year-earlier period. Its catastrophe losses surged to $2.34 billion, from $96.8 billion, in the...

JP Morgan has published a research report on Centene Corporation (NYSE: CNC) after the company reported its 2Q earnings. In the report, JP Morgan writes, "Post the 2Q report, we are updating our earnings outlook. Our 2011E is unchanged at $2.20, as we offset 2Q upside with rate challenges and...

This is your Benzinga news summary and traders' outlook for Monday, August 1, 2011, covering headlines from overnight and Monday's pre-market session. Today in domestic pre-market trading, U.S. equity futures are trading higher and the U.S. Dollar lower after Republican and Democratic leaders in...