UnitedHealth Group (UNH) Stock Moves -1.72%: What You Should Know
UnitedHealth Group (UNH) closed the most recent trading day at $444.22, moving -1.72% from the previous trading session. This move was narrower than the S&P 500's daily loss of 1.9%. Meanwhile, the Dow lost 1.86%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 0.31%.
Coming into today, shares of the largest U.S. health insurer had lost 0.46% in the past month. In that same time, the Medical sector lost 3.38%, while the S&P 500 gained 1.2%.
Investors will be hoping for strength from UnitedHealth Group as it approaches its next earnings release. On that day, UnitedHealth Group is projected to report earnings of $4.30 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 70.63%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $72.63 billion, up 10.93% from the prior-year quarter.
For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $18.85 per share and revenue of $286.71 billion, which would represent changes of +11.67% and +11.5%, respectively, from the prior year.
Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for UnitedHealth Group. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.
Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. 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, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.08% higher within the past month. UnitedHealth Group is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Valuation is also important, so investors should note that UnitedHealth Group has a Forward P/E ratio of 23.98 right now. This valuation marks a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 20.73.
We can also see that UNH currently has a PEG ratio of 1.73. 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. Medical - HMOs stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 1.24 based on yesterday's closing prices.
The Medical - HMOs industry is part of the Medical sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 199, which puts it in the bottom 22% 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
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