PacifiCare Health Profit Increases 49% for Quarter

PacifiCare Health Systems Inc. reported Wednesday that profit for its latest quarter rose by 49% to $15.2 million, compared to $10.2 million for the same period a year earlier.

Revenue for the company’s second fiscal quarter, which ended March 31, was $555.1 million, up 31% from $424.5 million for the same period last year. Earnings per share were 54 cents, up from 42 cents.

For the first half, the company said, profit increased 54% to $25.9 million, or 93 cents a share, from $16.8 million, or 71 cents a share. Six-month revenue rose 33% to $1 billion from $784 million.

PacifiCare, based in Cypress, is a managed health-care organization that operates HMOs for employer groups and Medicare beneficiaries in California and four other states. It also operates a health and life insurance company.

Total membership in PacifiCare health plans was 1 million on March 31. Commercial memberships rose by 8%, while memberships in PacifiCare’s Secure Horizons Medicare program grew by 37% from the same date a year earlier.

In Wednesday’s trading on the NASDAQ market, PacifiCare’s stock rose $1.375 a share to close at $38.50.