UnitedHealth Group (UNH) Dips More Than Broader Markets: What You Should Know
In the latest trading session, UnitedHealth Group (UNH) closed at $262.19, marking a -1.17% move from the previous day. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.43%. Meanwhile, the Dow lost 0.5%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 0.26%.
Coming into today, shares of the largest U.S. health insurer had lost 0.41% in the past month. In that same time, the Medical sector lost 4.49%, while the S&P 500 lost 4.68%.
Wall Street will be looking for positivity from UNH as it approaches its next earnings report date. This is expected to be January 15, 2019. In that report, analysts expect UNH to post earnings of $3.23 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 24.71%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $57.63 billion, up 10.69% from the prior-year quarter.
UNH's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $12.81 per share and revenue of $225.19 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +27.21% and +11.95%, respectively.
Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for UNH. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.
Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.
The Zacks Rank system ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.74% higher. UNH is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
Valuation is also important, so investors should note that UNH has a Forward P/E ratio of 20.71 right now. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 18.03, so we one might conclude that UNH is trading at a premium comparatively.
Also, we should mention that UNH has a PEG ratio of 1.53. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. UNH's industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.45 as of yesterday's close.
The Medical - HMOs industry is part of the Medical sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 90, putting it in the top 35% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.
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UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (UNH) : Free Stock Analysis Report
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