NEW YORK — Health insurer Humana says its profit jumped 26 percent in the first quarter due to a gain in its past medical claims reserves and greater Medicare Advantage membership.

The Louisville, Ky., company earned $258.8 million, or $1.52 per share. That's up from $205.7 million, or $1.22 per share, a year earlier. Humana says it gained 37 cents per share from a greater-than-expected development of medical claims reserves. Excluding that benefit and greater tax costs, the company says it earned $1.19 per share. Revenue grew 10 percent to $8.44 billion from $7.71 billion.

Thomson Reuters says analysts expected $1.14 per share and $8.27 billion in revenue.

BENTON HARBOR, Mich. — Whirlpool said today that its first-quarter profit more than doubled as sales of its appliances improved both domestically and abroad.The world's largest appliance maker also lifted its 2010 earnings forecast above Wall Street's expectations on its quarterly performance.Whirlpool, which sells Maytag, KitchenAid, Jenn-Air and its namesake brand, earned $164 million, or $2.13 per share, for the three months ended March 31. It earned $68 million, or 91 cents per share, a year ago.The results were significantly higher than the $1.33 per share that analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expected. These estimates normally remove one-time items.

TOKYO — Canon's first quarter net profit more than tripled from a year earlier as a recovering global economy drove demand for cameras and office equipment.The Tokyo-based company said today that its net profit for the January-March quarter totaled $611 million.Operating profit more than quadrupled to $934 million, while sales rose 10 percent to $8.1 billionCanon credited its results to a turnaround in U.S. consumer spending, as well as expanding markets in China, India and elsewhere in Asia.