PacifiCare Shares Rise on S&P; Rating

Shares of PacifiCare Health Systems Inc. rose Thursday after a rating agency upgraded its outlook for the Santa Ana health care company to positive from stable.

The stock rose $4.50, or 6.7%, to $71.88 in Nasdaq trading.

Standard & Poor’s said the improved outlook was based on PacifiCare’s improved liquidity and the favorable completion of its acquisition of Harris Methodist Texas Health Plan Inc. and Harris Methodist Health Insurance Co.

PacifiCare holds a strong position as a regional managed care organization, S&P; noted. With more than 4 million members as of March 31, PacifiCare operates HMOs in nine states, with significant market share in California, Colorado, Oklahoma and Texas. Its Texas presence strengthened with the February 2000 acquisition of Harris’ 300,000 members.

The company announced Wednesday that it will stop providing managed care plans to 60,000 members in Kentucky and Ohio to focus on operations in the western United States.