UPDATE: WellPoint predicts weak growth this year-WEB ONLY

WellPoint CEO Angela Braly told investors in Indianapolis this morning that the health insurer’s profit per share would grow 1 percent to 3 percent this year.

But WellPoint executives expect the company’s total customer enrollment to fall by 3 percent this year. In 2008, WellPoint’s number of customers rose 4 percent, to 35 million.

WellPoint’s shares rose as much as 4.6 percent in morning trading, to $41.13 apiece.

“Are we optimistic about the future? In these tough economic times, as we carefully evaluate the impact on our membership, we are,” Braly told a gathering of investors at WellPoint’s headquarters on Monument Circle. “We think we are becoming a much more agile company than we have been in the past.”

The company’s growth predictions call for profit to come in between $5.51 and $5.66 per share – below the expectations of Wall Street analysts, who have predicted WellPoint would earn $5.68 per share, according to a survey by Thomson Financial.

Braly’s prediction, given this morning to a meeting of investors, was based on 2008 earnings per share of $5.48, which excluded some one-time charges such as investment losses and an income tax benefits.

The growth prediction is far lower than the 15-percent growth WellPoint has predicted for several consecutive years.

However, in 2008, WellPoint’s forecast proved way off, as profit fell 14 percent. The company stunned investors nearly a year ago when it said it had misread the growth of medical expenses and therefore had underpriced its policies.

In September, WellPoint’s stock price swooned again when the meltdown on Wall Street stung it with investment losses that totaled about $1 billion for the year.

Shares of WellPoint fell 52 percent in 2008.

“It’s a year that we’re glad is behind us,” Braly said.