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Zacks Analyst Interview Highlights: Wellpoint, Humana and Healthsouth

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^{Published in Health and Fitness on Friday, December 19th 2008 at 3:38 GMT by Market Wire}  

CHICAGO--([ BUSINESS WIRE ])--Zacks.com releases the latest Analyst Interview. Today's interview is with senior analyst Chris Kallos,who talks about Wellpoint (NYSE: [ WLP ]), Humana (NYSE: [ HUM ]) and Healthsouth (NYSE: [ HLS ]).

A synopsis of today's Analyst Interview is presented below. The full article can be read at [ http://at.zacks.com/?id=2678 ].

Despite our currently neutral stance on managed care providers overall, we continue to rate Wellpoint (NYSE: [ WLP ]) as a Buy given its broad product offering, geographic reach and potential for added synergy gains from relatively recent acquisitions. Furthermore, managed care companies in general remain well-capitalized and unlikely to be affected by the current credit crisis, negative investor sentiment aside.

Humana (NYSE: [ HUM ]) also remains attractive at current levels. The company is one of the largest healthcare plan providers in the United States, with approval from The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to offer the Medicare Part D prescription drug plans (PDP) to the more than 42 million Medicare-eligible beneficiaries.

Highly leveraged companies are obviously more likely to be affected by any deterioration of the current credit crisis. For example, Healthsouth (NYSE: [ HLS ]), which, despite efforts to reduce debt exposure, remains vulnerable.

Zacks "Profit from the Pros" e-mail newsletter provides highlights of the latest analysis from Zacks Equity Research. Subscribe to this free newsletter today by visiting [ http://at.zacks.com/?id=2679 ].

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