U.S. health care insurance provider Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC) stock surged on Tuesday on better-than-expected first-quarter earnings and 2026 outlook.

The company reported a first-quarter 2026 adjusted loss of $3.37, beating the consensus of $2.13 per share, approximately 50 cents better than the company’s expectations.

• Centene shares are powering higher. Why is CNC stock up today?

Revenue Growth Driven By Medicaid And PDP Strength

Centene’s sales reached $49.94 billion, exceeding the consensus estimate of $47.53 billion.

For the first quarter of 2026, premium and service revenues increased 5% to $44.7 billion, driven by premium yield and membership growth in the PDP business, state-directed payments, and rate increases to address medical trends in the Medicaid business, partially offset by lower Marketplace and Medicaid membership.

In an investor call, the company said, “Medicaid results in the quarter were ahead of our previous projection, outperforming our HBR expectation in the period within that, we experienced ...