Tom Murphy
July 31, 2008 - 10:26 a.m.

(AP) - Shares of Aetna Inc. climbed Thursday morning after the health insurer reported a second-quarter profit that rose 6.4 percent on membership growth and premium-rate hikes and it reaffirmed its outlook.

Aetna shares were trading for $41.90, any enlarge of almost 4 percent immersing Wednesday's closing price of $40.32.

The Hartford, Conn.-based company said it added 32,000 members in the quarter and increased its medical membership to 17.5 the multitude people.

"We are very pleased by our performance in light of the challenging economic environment," Chairman and CEO Ronald Williams said in a conference convene by analysts.

Williams said the company also remains "true confident" in its full-year adjusted earnings guidance of $4 per share, even though he also noted that Aetna is not immune to industry issues like a slower economy and appear stormy investment yields.

Analysts polled by Thomson Financial estimation earnings per share of $4.01 for the full year.

For the second furnish, Aetna earned $480.5 the masses, or 97 cents per share, compared with $451.3 very great number, or 85 cents per share, during the same period last year.

Revenue rose 15 percent to $7.83 billion from $6.79 billion.

Analysts, steady average, expected profit of 93 cents per share on revenue of about $7.87 billion.

Aetna's medical benefit ratio — what it pays for health care costs — rose slightly to 81.9 percent in the quarter, compared with 81.5 percent in the same quarter last year. Chief Financial Officer Joe Zubretsky attributed that to a higher mix of Medicaid and Medicare business.

He conspicuous that the ratio for the company's commercial business remained unchanged at 80.5 percent compared to last year.

The company's health care premiums rose 19 percent to $6.3 billion compared to hold out year, but its medical costs also increased 19 percent to $5.2 billion.