Centene Corporation (CNC) Earnings Call Transcripts

Centene Corporation's Latest Earnings Call - Q2 FY2026

In the second quarter of 2026, Centene Corporation reported strong financial results, with adjusted diluted earnings per share (EPS) of $2.51, exceeding expectations and driven by solid operational execution. Revenue reached $44.4 billion, reflecting a significant increase compared to prior guidance. Management raised its full-year EPS outlook to greater than $4.80, up from $3.40, indicating confidence in ongoing business momentum and improved margin forecasts across its segments, particularly in Marketplace and Medicare.

Reported metrics

Guidance from management

Centene now expects full-year adjusted EPS to exceed $4.80, significantly raised from prior guidance of $3.40, driven by strong performance in Marketplace and Medicare segments. Membership attrition in Medicaid is anticipated to be higher than previously estimated, impacting future guidance.

What management said

Yes, Justin, so you're right, the $481 million is in the Q. That's an absolute number. And then you may recall, every year we have explicit margin on these estimates that gets released and then reestablished largely the same amount. So that's about $250 million, that doesn't benefit the P&L relative to our prior guidance because that's expected to roll each year. And so that gets you down to about $230 million. And t...

Kevin, on your last point, do you mean relative to those 2 dropped during redeterminations or those who have already rolled off in some of the sort of early attrition, if you will?

What analysts pressed on

Analysts expressed concerns over Medicaid membership attrition and its potential impact on future margins. Questions were raised about the acuity of the remaining membership and how upcoming regulatory changes might affect profitability.

Main topics on the call

• Earnings Guidance Increase — Centene raised its full-year adjusted diluted EPS guidance to greater than $4.80 from $3.40, reflecting strong first-half performance and improved market conditions. CEO Sarah London stated, "Thanks to strong first half ...
• Medicaid Membership Trends — The company ended Q2 with 12.1 million Medicaid members, slightly below expectations, with anticipated membership attrition increasing from a prior estimate of 6% to 8-9%. Management noted, "We expect full year Medicaid ...
• Marketplace Margin Improvement — Centene's Marketplace segment is expected to achieve a pretax margin between 4.5% and 5%, up from previous guidance of 3%. CFO Drew Asher highlighted, "We now expect a Marketplace pretax margin of 4.5% to 5% in 2026, bac...
• Medicare Segment Performance — The Medicare segment showed strong results, with a projected pretax margin exceeding 3%, improved from the initial 2% guidance. Asher noted, "We now expect PDP to deliver a pretax margin greater than 3% in 2026 versus th...

Read the full Centene Corporation transcript (Q2 FY2026) → Summary generated from the call transcript; every figure above is stated by management on the record.

Earnings Call History

EarningsCalls.dev has 78 Centene Corporation earnings call transcripts on record, spanning January 13, 2020 to July 28, 2026. Based on this history, Centene Corporation reports quarterly. The most recent call on file is dated July 28, 2026. The full list is below — each row opens the complete, free-to-read transcript.

Ticker

CNC

Exchange

NYSE

Country

US

Sector

Health Care

Industry

Health Care Providers and Services

Calls on record

78

First call

January 13, 2020

Most recent

July 28, 2026

Reporting cadence

quarterly