Insurer Anthem underwhelms Street with 2022 forecast

Anthem is starting 2022 with lower expectations than Wall Street for how the year will play out.

The Blue Cross-Blue Shield health insurer laid out on Wednesday earnings, revenue and enrollment projections that all fell short of average analyst expectations, and its stock started sliding early.

Anthem said it expects adjusted earnings to be greater than $28.25 per share on $152 billion in operating revenue, which excludes investment income.

The insurer, which has been growing its government-funded Medicaid and Medicare business, also sees total medical enrollment ending up at somewhere between 45.6 million and 46.2 million people for the year.

Analysts expect, on average, earnings of $28.59 per share on $153 billion in revenue, with enrollment totaling 46.5 million people, according to FactSet.

Anthem also missed the consensus expectation by about $500 million with fourth-quarter operating revenue of $36.02 billion.

The insurer’s adjusted earnings of $5.14 per share, beat expectations by 3 cents.

Shares of Indianapolis-based Anthem Inc. fell 3% in premarket trading while broader indexes climbed.

The stock has climbed about 40% over the past year.