Pacificare Health Systems Inc

PacifiCare Health Systems Inc.'s debt rating outlook was raised by Moody's Investors Service to "positive" from "stable" after the biggest operator of Medicare health plans finished a $500-million bond offering.

Pacificare Health Systems Inc. said net income for its fiscal year ended Sept. 30 was $3 million, a 47% decline from net income of $5.7 million for the prior year. Revenue for the year totaled $172 million, contrasted with $89.9 million for last year. The Cypress-based company attributed the earnings decline to higher payments to physicians, increased prescription drug costs and increased expenses incurred in its expansion in Oregon, Oklahoma and Texas.

PacifiCare Health Systems Inc. shares fell nearly 11% Monday after the health insurer, the biggest operator of Medicare health plans, agreed to sell up to $150 million in stock to reduce its bank debt. The Santa Ana-based company will sell as many as 6.9 million shares to Acqua Wellington North American Equities Fund Ltd. over 18 months, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. Shares fell $1.90 to $16.15 on Nasdaq. PacifiCare said it would use the proceeds to cut its debt.

PacifiCare Health Systems Inc.'s debt rating outlook was raised by Moody's Investors Service to "positive" from "stable" after the biggest operator of Medicare health plans finished a $500-million bond offering.

PacifiCare Health Systems Inc. said Thursday it has completed the sale of its FHP of Illinois health-plan operations to Principal Health Care Inc., based in Bethesda, Md., for an undisclosed price.

HMO Starts Charity Foundation: PacifiCare Health Systems Inc. said it has established a philanthropic foundation to donate funds to charitable, education and research causes aimed at improving health. The foundation will be funded by the company, which operates health-maintenance organizations in five states, and through voluntary employee contributions.

PacifiCare Health Systems Inc., which dropped plans last month to refinance its debt with new creditors, said Tuesday that its current lenders have agreed to extend the due date of its $800-million credit package by one year. The Santa Ana managed-care company, the nation's biggest operator of Medicare health plans, said in a news release that it will pay 1% of the debt, or $8 million, as a fee to amend the credit agreement. The new arrangement, which extends the maturity date to Jan.

PacifiCare Health Systems Inc., the biggest U.S. operator of Medicare health plans, said Friday that it abandoned plans to refinance $800 million in debt after a junk-bond sale failed because of investor concern over rising costs. PacifiCare wanted to sell the bonds and arrange a $400-million loan to refinance the bank debt that matures in January, along with $100 million in senior notes. The plan was contingent upon the sale of $600 million in junk bonds, which Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co.

Shares of PacifiCare Health Systems Inc. fell nearly 8% on Monday after the biggest U.S. operator of Medicare health plans extended a tender offer for its senior debt. Shares lost $1.27 to close at $15.65 on Nasdaq, after touching $14.61. The shares had fallen 8.5% since PacifiCare lowered its 2001 profit estimate May 30. Santa Ana-based PacifiCare extended its tender offer for $100 million in outstanding senior notes by a week. The offer had been set to expire Monday.

PacifiCare Health Systems Inc. shares fell 9% after the Santa Ana company raised its second-quarter profit forecast less than two months after cutting 2001 projections. Estimates had ranged from a loss of 38 cents to a profit of 52 cents. Shares fell $1.78 to close at $18.27 on Nasdaq.

Shares of PacifiCare Health Systems Inc. fell 22% on Thursday after profit at the biggest operator of Medicare health plans dropped 82% in the first quarter. PacifiCare shares fell $8.29 to close at $29.10 in Nasdaq trading on volume of 5.7 million, or more than seven times the three-month daily average. The Santa Ana-based company said after U.S. markets closed Wednesday that first-quarter net income fell to $13.1 million from $74.6 million a year earlier as medical costs rose.

UniHealth Foundation reduced its holdings in PacifiCare Health Systems Inc., the nation's largest Medicare managed health care plan, to 10.8% from about 13.5%, according to a document filed with regulators Monday. UniHealth sold 1 million shares of the Santa Ana health insurer on the open market last month for a total of $35.3 million, with prices ranging from $33.24 to $38.74 a share, according to the filing.

PacifiCare Health Systems Inc. shares fell 9% after the Santa Ana company raised its second-quarter profit forecast less than two months after cutting 2001 projections. Estimates had ranged from a loss of 38 cents to a profit of 52 cents. Shares fell $1.78 to close at $18.27 on Nasdaq.

Shares of PacifiCare Health Systems Inc. surged for the second consecutive day Thursday, amid continued investor enthusiasm on the heels of the company's bullish projections for the coming year. PacifiCare, the nation's largest Medicare HMO, announced Tuesday that it was raising its 2001 outlook to $2.94 a share, almost $2 above Wall Street's consensus estimates, and revealed plans to turn around its lagging fortunes by remaking itself into a diversified health-care company.

PacifiCare Health Systems Inc. shares climbed 35% Wednesday, spurred by better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings, a strong outlook for 2001 and a series of upgrades by analysts. The Santa Ana company's stock rose $8.75 to $33.50 in trading of 8.4 million, seven times the three-month daily average on the Nasdaq market.