Centene Corp CNC: 2Q26 Conference Call Takeaways

Research evidence excerpt

Centene Corp CNC: 2Q26 Conference Call Takeaways

Global Research

28 July 2026ab

Centene Corp Equities

AmericasCNC: 2Q26 Conference Call Takeaways

Healthcare Providers

12-month rating Neutral

Key takeaways from CNC's 2Q26 call: CNC's shares are underperforming the

market today (-1.3% vs +0.5% S&P 500), as company commentary around higher

12m price target US$61.00

Medicaid acuity due to expansion population attrition has led to some concern

around future margin recovery. We note that shares have recovered since the open

as the market has had more time to assess the size of the acuity impact. Price (28 Jul 2026) US$64.08

Management did comment near the end of the conference call that the 50 bps of RIC: CNC.N BBG: CNC US

reserved rate benefits should be more than enough to offset the higher acuity.

Otherwise, incremental call commentary met or exceeded expectations, Trading data and key metrics

particularly on the Marketplace & Medicare front. 52-wk range US$68.72-25.21

Market cap. US$31.9b

We highlight the key takeaways from CNC's 2Q earnings call below: Shares o/s 498m (COM)

Medicaid Highlights: FY Medicaid MLR is expected to be 93.5%, an Free float 99%

improvement over the previous 93.7% guidance. Behavioral health, particularly Avg. daily volume ('000) 1,617

ABA, has seen moderation. Medicaid membership is now projected to be down 8- Avg. daily value (m) US$98.7

9% by YE, vs previous projections of down 6%. The expansion population is Common s/h equity (12/26E) US$21.2b

estimated to represent 18% of total membership by YE, down from 20% at the P/BV (12/26E) 1.5x

beginning of the year. The drop in low utilizers is most pronounced in the Net debt to EBITDA (12/26E) NM

expansion population. The composite rate forecast has improved from 4.5% to