Elevance Health is kicking off another round of quarterly earnings results for major insurers, posting $1.5 billion in profit for Q2.
That's down from the prior-year quarter, where the company earned $1.7 billion in profit, according to its earnings report released Wednesday morning. However, the profit results still surpassed Wall Street analysts' forecasts, per Zacks Investment Research.
Elevance also beat the Street on revenue for the quarter, bringing in $50.5 billion. By comparison, revenues were $49.8 billion in the second quarter of 2025.
The company said that the revenue growth was supported by higher premium yields in its insurance business and a rise in revenue from CarelonRx, its pharmacy benefit management division.
Elevance Health had a medical loss ratio of 89.7% in the quarter, up from the 88.9% it posted a year ago. The insurer said that the increase was backed by an "expected" rise in medical cost trends for its government plans, though it was partially offset by improvements in the Affordable Care Act marketplace business.
"Our second quarter results exceeded our outlook, supported by disciplined execution and improved operating performance across our diversified portfolio," CEO Gail Boudreaux said in the earnings release.
Operating revenue at Elevance Health's insurance division was $42.7 billion in the quarter, according to the report. The company boasted 44.9 million members as of Q2, down by about 469,000 from Q1 due to attrition in the individual market and "a known commercial fee-based customer transition."
At Carelon, meanwhile, operating revenues were $19.2 billion, according to the report, up 6% year-over-year. The company attributed the increase to higher CarelonRx revenue as well as further scale in the risk-based solutions offered at Carelon Services.
On the back of the results, the company said it would increase its guidance for the year to at least $27 in earnings per share. Previously, it anticipated at least $25.50 in EPS.
Boudreaux said in the release that the performance allows the company to accelerate investments in several key areas, including "medical cost management, member experience, provider connectivity, operating efficiency and Carelon’s value-based solutions."
"These actions will strengthen how we operate, improve consistency over time, and reinforce our confidence in returning to at least 12% adjusted EPS growth in 2027 off our 2026 earnings baseline," she said.
Despite the upbeat tone in the release, shares in Elevance Health were down 7.5% premarket. Skittish investors still have questions about the company's potential margin performance, according to analysts at Investing.com, particularly as MLR worsened compared to Q2 2025.