Humana raises Adjusted EPS floor to at least $9.50 after Q3

Humana raised its full-year 2026 Adjusted earnings per share guidance to at least $9.50 from at least $9.00 after third-quarter results released Nov. 6. The company also lifted GAAP EPS guidance to at least $15.09 from at least $6.52. The figures come from Humana’s Form 8-K Exhibits 99.1 and 99.2 filed the same morning.

The Insurance segment GAAP benefit ratio was 93.7% in the quarter, favorable to management’s guidance of slightly above 94%. Consolidated revenue reached $41.16 billion, up from $32.65 billion a year earlier.

The quarter by the numbers

GAAP diluted EPS was $1.33, compared with $1.62 in the third quarter of 2025. Adjusted loss per share was $0.70, against Adjusted EPS of $3.24 a year earlier. Prepared remarks said the Adjusted loss of $0.70 beat the company’s guide of about a $1.00 loss.

Year to date, GAAP EPS was $16.84 and Adjusted EPS was $17.17. Pretax income on a GAAP basis was $216 million in the quarter, against $134 million a year earlier. Adjusted pretax results were a loss of $104 million, against pretax income of $527 million in the year-ago quarter.

The consolidated benefit ratio rose to 93.9% from 91.1%. The operating cost ratio improved to 11.3% from 12.6%, or 11.2% from 11.8% on an Adjusted basis. Insurance segment operating cost ratio fell to 7.7% from 9.1%.

Days in claims payable held at 33.2. Debt-to-total capitalization was 40.9% at Sept. 30, down 180 basis points from 42.7% at June 30. Year-to-date operating cash flow was $5.38 billion, against $2.57 billion a year earlier.

Medicare Advantage membership

Individual Medicare Advantage membership stood at 6.46 million on Sept. 30, up from 5.24 million a year earlier, a 23.3% rise by our math on the company’s thousands. Total Medicare Advantage, including group, reached 7.19 million, up from 5.81 million.

Inside that Individual MA book, Dual Eligible Special Needs Plan (D-SNP) membership was 958,300, up 192,500, or 25%, from 765,800 a year earlier, per the Ex. 99.2 footnote.

Prepared remarks put year-to-date Individual MA growth at about 1.21 million members, or 23%, tracking the company’s full-year expectation of about 25% growth. Group MA grew about 160,000 members year to date, or 28%. Stand-alone Part D grew about 1.22 million members year to date, or 54%, ahead of a full-year target of about 1 million.

A footnote on the membership page warns that about 350,000 group members appear in both group Medicare Advantage and stand-alone PDP counts after Part D coverage was decoupled from the medical product. Treat the PDP and group MA lines as reported, not as a simple sum.

Medicaid and CenterWell

Humana said year-to-date Medicaid membership grew 103,600, or 7%, driven largely by integrated Duals programs in Michigan, Illinois, and South Carolina. Prepared remarks rounded that to about 104,000 and kept the full-year range at 25,000 to 100,000 members. The Medicaid footprint now covers 13 states, with 11 active and awards pending implementation in Georgia and Texas.

CenterWell Senior Primary Care served about 638,000 patients on Sept. 30, up 146,800, or 30%, from Dec. 31, 2025. The company operated 399 centers, up 57, or 17%, year over year. Patient growth split as 30,700 in de novo centers, 74,500 in mature wholly owned centers, and 41,600 in the IPA business.

Why the Adjusted loss still beats the plan

Stars revenue for Bonus Year 2026 remains a headwind. New Individual MA members run a higher benefit ratio than retained members. Favorable prior-period development was $67 million in the quarter, against $275 million a year earlier.

Against that, Humana points to 2026 Individual MA pricing, clinical work, group MA recontracting, and operating leverage from membership and Part D subsidy growth under the Inflation Reduction Act. The Insurance segment operating cost ratio cut of 1.4 points year over year is the clearest cost line in the tables.

Management still targets a sustainable pretax margin of at least 3% in 2028. Prepared remarks call Bonus Year 2028 Medicare Advantage Stars results industry leading and say 2027 Individual MA bids are meant to make meaningful progress toward that 2028 margin.