Benzinga | Aug 5, 2021 07:08AM EDT

Cigna Strongly Beats On Q2 Earnings; Raises FY21 Sales Outlook, Expects Higher Unfavorable COVID-19 Impact

* Cigna Corp (NYSE:CI) reports Q2 total revenues of $43.1 billion, +9.8% Y/Y, ahead of the consensus of $41.31 billion.

* Q2 adjusted EPS reached $5.24 compared with $5.81 a year ago, beating the consensus of $4.96.

* The pharmacy customer base grew to 101.9 million, up 5% Y/Y, and an organic increase of 3.1 million YTD. The total medical customer base reached 16.9 million, increasing 279,000 customers YTD, down marginally by 0.3% Y/Y.

* Evernorth adjusted revenues increased 17% Y/Y $32.6 billion driven by growth in retail network and specialty pharmacy services, offset by lower retail script volumes due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

* Evernorth fulfilled 410 million pharmacy scripts, +13% Y/Y led by organic growth and COVID-19 vaccines.

* U.S. Medical adjusted revenues grew 13% to $10.5 billion.

* The debt-to-capitalization ratio was 40.5%, in line with the long-term target of approximately 40%.

* The SG&A expense ratio was 6.9%, a decrease from 8.4% from Q2 2020.

* Guidance: Cigna expects FY21 sales of at least $170 billion ($166 billion previously).

* It reaffirms adjusted EPS guidance of at least $20.20 versus the consensus of $20.42. This outlook includes approximately $2.50 per share ($1.25 previously) in net unfavorable impacts of COVID-19.

* Price Action: CI shares closed at $231.48 on Wednesday.