UnitedHealth Group (UNH) Gains As Market Dips: What You Should Know
In the latest trading session, UnitedHealth Group (UNH) closed at $463.68, marking a +0.73% move from the previous day. This move outpaced the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.15%. Meanwhile, the Dow lost 0.28%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 3.16%.
Coming into today, shares of the largest U.S. health insurer had lost 6.86% in the past month. In that same time, the Medical sector lost 5.41%, while the S&P 500 lost 5.39%.
UnitedHealth Group will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. On that day, UnitedHealth Group is projected to report earnings of $6.23 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 13.48%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $89.35 billion, up 11.47% from the prior-year quarter.
UNH's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $24.91 per share and revenue of $358.97 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +12.26% and +10.74%, respectively.
Any recent changes to analyst estimates for UnitedHealth Group should also be noted by investors. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.
Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.
Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection remained stagnant. UnitedHealth Group is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Looking at its valuation, UnitedHealth Group is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 18.48. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 13.23, which means UnitedHealth Group is trading at a premium to the group.
Also, we should mention that UNH has a PEG ratio of 1.29. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. UNH's industry had an average PEG ratio of 0.81 as of yesterday's close.
The Medical - HMOs industry is part of the Medical sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 202, which puts it in the bottom 20% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank includes is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.
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UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (UNH) : Free Stock Analysis Report
