WellCare Health Plans, Inc. WCG has completed the previously announced acquisition of the subsidiaries of Care1st Health Plan – Care1st Health Plan Arizona, Inc. and ONECare by Care1st Health Plan of Arizona, Inc., collectively known as Care1st Arizona. This buyout will enable WellCare Health to extend its footprint into Arizona’s thriving Medicaid and Medicare markets.
The company has been boosting its inorganic growth profile through strategic acquisitions, which has helped it to grow its top line. The growth story is also evident from the company’s share price, which gained 75.3% in 2016 compared with 21.02% for the Zacks Categorized Health Maintenance Organization industry.
Care1st Arizona offers Medicaid and Medicare benefits to about 115,000 people in Arizona’s largest geographic service areas – Maricopa and Pima counties.
The acquisition is expected to be accretive to earnings per diluted share in the first year itself.
Care1st Arizona is renowned as a superior quality health plan that has met the criteria of government-sponsored programs in Arizona for more than 13 years. The health plan’s commitment toward community-based relationships and combined delivery of medical care and social services is in sync with the acquirer’s objective of providing enhanced health benefits to low-income families, children, the disabled, seniors and individuals with complex medical needs.
The company has made a number of acquisitions since the past many years. In Dec 2016, the company entered into an agreement to acquire assets like Medicaid membership and certain provider contracts from Tenet Healthcare Corp.'s THC affiliate, Phoenix Health Plan. In Nov 2016, WellCare announced its intention to acquire Universal American Corp. Last June, the company acquired certain assets of Advicare Corp.’s Medicare business. The buyout will allow the health maintenance organization to expand its footprint to South Carolina and strengthen its partnership with the state via delivery of quality, cost-effective health care solutions to low-income children and families.
Currently, WellCare carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). Some other players in the space to consider are Magellan Health, Inc. MGLN and UnitedHealth Group Inc. UNH. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Magellan Health has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), carries a VGM score of B and witnessed a rise in earnings estimates over the past 60 days. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
UnitedHealth Group has a Zacks Rank #2 and a VGM score of A. It witnessed a rise in earnings estimates over the past 90 days.
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