Shares of UnitedHealth Group, the largest health insurance company in the U.S., increased nearly 6% during Tuesday morning trading after the company provided an update on the significant cyberattack it faced earlier this year.
UnitedHealth reported in its second quarterly earnings that it had restored most affected services at its subsidiary, Change Healthcare, which manages medical records and payments.
The company stated that the cyberattack’s impact in the second quarter cost $0.92 per share. To date, UnitedHealth has provided over $9 billion in advance funding and interest-free loans to support impacted healthcare providers.
Additionally, the financial support and customer notification costs led UnitedHealth to revise its estimated financial impact to between $1.90 and $2.05 per share for the entire year. However, the company maintained its adjusted net earnings outlook of $27.50 to $28.00 per share, confident in its ability to absorb the cyberattack costs.
UnitedHealth reported revenues of $98.9 billion for the three months ending June 30, surpassing Wall Street expectations of $98.7 billion, as per FactSet.
“During the quarter, we prioritized resources to support care providers affected by the cyberattack over activities such as share repurchase,” said John Franklin Rex, UnitedHealth’s president and chief financial officer, during an investor call on Tuesday. “It was the right thing to do, devoting all of our efforts to provide stability for the health system.”
In February, the ransomware group ALPHV breached Change Healthcare, causing delays in prescriptions and paychecks for healthcare workers. A preliminary review found that the targeted data included protected health information and personally identifiable information, potentially affecting a significant portion of Americans.
For the three months ending June 30, UnitedHealth’s net income fell 22% to $4.2 billion, compared to $5.5 billion during the same period the previous year. However, revenue increased 6% year-over-year to $98.9 billion, up from $93 billion. Earnings per share were $6.80, exceeding Wall Street expectations of $6.66, according to a consensus estimate from FactSet analysts.