Elevance Keeps Its $29.00 Adjusted Earnings Floor And Holds Its Medical-Cost Forecast
Approximately $7.00 per share in unfavorable items separates the insurer's adjusted outlook from its standard-accounting forecast.
Elevance Health, which sells medical, pharmacy and behavioral health coverage and services, kept its 2026 adjusted earnings forecast at at least $29.00 per diluted share and maintained its medical-cost outlook. In an SEC filing Tuesday, the insurer said officers expect to reiterate those forecasts during discussions with investors and analysts this week.
The $7.00 Earnings Divide
Elevance continues to expect full-year earnings under standard accounting of at least $22.00 per diluted share. That forecast includes approximately $7.00 per diluted share in net unfavorable items; the adjusted forecast excludes them.
The earnings outlook uses the adjustments already reported with the company's third-quarter 2026 results. It excludes any additional adjustment items beyond that set, keeping the forecast tied to the same treatment of earnings.
Both earnings figures are minimums rather than point estimates. Elevance maintained those floors for the full year, rather than raising or cutting its expectations in advance of the planned discussions.
Medical Benefits Take 90.2% Of Premiums
Elevance also maintained its expected benefit expense ratio—the share of premium revenue spent on medical benefits—at 90.2%, plus or minus 0.5 percentage points, for 2026.
That measure covers medical spending relative to premiums, while the earnings forecasts describe profit per diluted share. The insurer kept both expectations in place.
Elevance identifies healthcare costs and utilization, reduced enrollment and its ability to obtain sufficient premium rates as risks to its financial performance. It also cites uncertainty around Medicare and Medicaid programs and its ability to secure competitive terms with healthcare providers.
Coverage, Claims And Carelon Services
Elevance sells risk-based plans to individuals, employer groups, Medicaid members and Medicare members. It also processes claims and provides other administrative services for employers that fund their own health coverage.
Its businesses operate under the Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Wellpoint and Carelon brands. Alongside Health Benefits, its segments include CarelonRx for pharmacy services, Carelon Services for care management and data services, and Corporate & Other.
Premiums, administrative fees, and pharmacy and health-service fees supply its revenue. Elevance served approximately 45.2 million medical members as of December 31, 2025; U.S. government agencies supplied approximately 32% of its revenue that year.
Sources
- 8-K Filing — Elevance Health, Inc. (ELV) — SEC EDGAR
More on Elevance Health
- Elevance Swapped Its Liberty Dental Options For A Forward Contract And Booked A $169 Million Gain
- Elevance Raises 2026 Baseline To At Least $26.75, While $1.85 A Share Of Third-Quarter EPS Was Non-Operating
- Elevance Raises 2026 Profit Outlook To At Least $29.00 A Share As Medicare Advantage Enrollment Falls 15.5%
