(By Balachander) Magellan Health Services Inc. (NASDAQ: MGLN) issued its earnings and revenue forecast for 2013 and the specialty managed healthcare business named its board member Barry Smith as its chief executive.
The Avon, Connecticut-based company said chairman and CEO Rene Lerer will become the full-time Executive Chairman, effective January 1, 2013.
Including share repurchases to date, Magellan expects earnings per share (EPS) in the range of $3.22 to $3.85 on revenue of $3.56 billion to $3.74 billion for 2013.
Wall Street analysts, on average, expect EPS of $4.24 on revenue of $3.64 billion for 2013.
During the period from October 26 to December 10, Magellan repurchased 336,622 shares for a total cost of $16.8 million.
As of December 10, 2012, the company said, there are roughly 27.4 million shares outstanding.
For the full year 2012, the company still expects EPS in the range of $4.83 to $5.55, while analysts expect EPS of $4.18.
"Magellan will complete 2012 with solid financial performance, and is well positioned as we enter 2013," commented Lerer. "We are pleased with our results across all of our business lines, and the new contracts we won in 2012."
The stock, which has been trading in the 52-week range of $40.24 to $56.58, ended at $52.98 on Monday.