Centene Corp (NYSE:CNC) stock is trading lower on Tuesday. Over the last year, the stock has fallen by around 35%.
• Centene stock is taking a hit today. What’s pressuring CNC stock?
The health insurer reaffirmed its 2026 earnings guidance above $1.98 per share and adjusted earnings of above $3 per share.
Warns Lower Membership
At the Barclays Global Healthcare Conference, Centene flagged lower membership in some Affordable Care Act plans (ACA).
Centene noted that ACA membership attrition would shrink somewhere between the high teens and the mid-30s.
“But we were pretty consistent in the view that we would be at the higher end of that and possibly higher than the top end of that, partly because of our FPL mix and partly because of the pricing actions that we took coming into the year and our focus on margin over membership,” Sarah London, Centene’s CEO, said.
Higher Utilization
The ACA marketplace categorizes plans into metal tiers — Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum.
While all tiers cover the same essential health benefits, they differ in cost-sharing, or the share of medical expenses paid by the insurer versus the enrollee.
“From a metal tier perspective, still largely consistent with what we shared in early February, with mid-30s percent in bronze, high teens in gold, and then just under 50% of those members in silver, which is obviously lower for us than it has been in past years.”
“And then based on early data without any risk adjustment offset, we are seeing some higher utilization patterns in specialty pharmacy, really isolated into that silver tier,” London commented on Tuesday.
Fourth Quarter Membership
Centene reported that 2025 total membership across Centene’s portfolio declined to 27.63 million from 28.60 million a year ago, predominantly due to a reduction in Medicaid membership from 13.00 million to 12.52 million.
During its fourth earnings, the CEO commented, “We are pleased to end a challenging year carrying positive momentum from the extensive and decisive actions taken in the back half of 2025 with the goal of restoring Marketplace profitability and stabilizing the trajectory of our Medicaid business.”
CNC Price Action: Centene stock is down 13.18% at $37.61 at publication on Tuesday, according to Benzinga Pro data.
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This article Why Is Centene Stock Falling On Tuesday? originally appeared on Benzinga.com
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