Cigna's quarterly profit rises nearly 17% as health services unit drives growth

Nov 4 (Reuters) - Cigna Corp reported a near 17% jump in third-quarter profit on Thursday and modestly raised its full-year adjusted profit forecast, on the back of growth in its health services unit that includes the pharmacy benefits management business.

Cigna's health services unit, rebranded to Evernorth last September, has been driving growth amid volatile medical costs at its health insurance business due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Evernorth's adjusted revenue for the quarter ended Sept. 30 rose 12.7% to $33.61 billion, from $29.83 billion a year earlier.

Shareholders' net income for the third quarter was $1.62 billion, or $4.80 per share, compared with $1.39 billion, or $3.78 per share, a year earlier.

Cigna moderately raised its outlook for 2021 adjusted profit from operations to at least $20.35 per share, from its prior estimate of a minimum of $20.20 per share.

Cigna's medical care ratio (MCR), the amount spent on medical claims versus income from premiums, worsened to 84.4% in the third quarter, from 82.6% a year earlier, compared with an estimate of 83.93%, according to four analysts polled by Refinitiv.

The company now expects 2021 MCR to be between 84.0% and 84.5%, up from its prior forecast of 83.0% to 84.0%. (Reporting by Manojna Maddipatla and Amruta Khandekar in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)