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The Virginia Beach-based health insurer also said that it was unlikely to achieve its earlier guidance of $2.55 to $2.75 a share for the full year.
Amerigroup, scheduled to release its third-quarter results Friday, said it expected to report earnings per share of 42 to 44 cents. Bloomberg News said the average expectation among 11 analysts it surveyed was 56 cents.
Amerigroup specializes in managed care for beneficiaries of Medicaid and other government-funded programs, and has 1.7 million members in 11 states, including Virginia.
"In September, we experienced a spike in flu-related activity among our Medicaid members," said James G. Carlson, Amerigroup's chairman and CEO, said in a statement. "The vast majority of our members are within the demographic most at risk for the flu, and we appear to be early in the cycle."
It's the second time in two months Amerigroup has revised its earning guidance.
In September, it reduced its guidance for 2009 from an earlier forecast of between $2.90 and $3.05 per share, citing a sharp rise in its second-quarter medical costs.
Separately, St. Louis-based Centene Corp. said Amerigroup agreed to buy a Centene health plan in New Jersey after the two companies settled a legal dispute over an earlier sales agreement. Amerigroup agreed in November to buy the Centene assets and to sell an Amerigroup plan in South Carolina to Centene.
Amerigroup called off the New Jersey transaction in December, citing material changes in that plan's condition. The two companies did not disclose the terms of their new agreement. The transaction, subject to approval by regulators, is scheduled to close early next year, Centene said.
Amerigroup's shares fell 80 cents in heavy trading Monday to close at $21.79.
Tom Shean, (757) 446-2379, tom.shean@pilotonline.com
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