Health insurer Centene's quarterly profit misses estimate

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Oct 25 (Reuters) - Health insurer Centene Corp reported a lower-than-expected quarterly profit, largely weighed down by the Health Net acquisition.

Centene, which acquired the smaller rival earlier in the year, set aside a $300 million reserve in July related to Health Net's operations.

Analysts have said Centene's investors could grow frustrated over Health Net's performance, which has been below expectations so far.

Centene, which primarily focuses on government-sponsored health plans, said net earnings attributable rose to $145 million, or 83 cents per share, in the third quarter ended Sept. 30 from $93 million, or 76 cents per share, a year earlier.

Excluding items, the company earned $1.11 per share missing the average analyst estimate of $1.15, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Revenue nearly doubled to $10.85 billion due to the Health Net acquisition, but was below estimate of $10.96 billion.

General and administrative (G&A) expense ratio was 9.2 percent for the third quarter, compared with 8.4 percent a year earlier.

Centene said the increase was primarily attributable to the addition of the Health Net business, which operates at a higher G&A ratio due to a greater mix of commercial and Medicare business.

(Reporting by Ankur Banerjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)