UPDATE 2-Centene Q1 profit rises, outlook promising; shares up

(Adds details, share movement, analyst comment)

By Suzannah Benjamin

BANGALORE, April 22 (Reuters) - Health insurer Centene Corp (CNC.N: Quote, Profile, Research) reported a higher first-quarter profit, helped by rate increases in Georgia, and its reduced 2008 outlook still beat market estimates, sending its shares up 15 percent.

Last quarter, the company did not recognize benefit from rate increase by the state of Georgia. This benefit was seen in the latest first-quarter, and propped up first-quarter results by 28 cents a share.

For the latest quarter, Centene posted net income of $25.6 million, or 57 cents a share, compared with $11.6 million, or 26 cents a share, a year earlier. Including discontinued operations, it earned $38.2 million, or 85 cents a share, a year ago.

The latest quarter's earnings lagged the company's expectation by 2 cents a share. Centene had said in March that higher-than-anticipated costs would push its earnings by 3 cents to 4 cents below the low end of its first-quarter outlook range of 59 cents a share to 64 cents.

Revenue rose about 23 percent to $816.6 million.

Analysts were expecting a profit of 51 cents a share, before special items, on revenue of $799.8 million, according to Reuters Estimates.

The St. Louis, Missouri-based company expects 2008 earnings of $1.87 and $1.97 a share, compared with its prior forecast of $2.04 to $2.14. However, the reduced outlook still beat analysts' mean expectation of a profit of $1.85 a share for the year.