Yahoo Finance UnitedHealth Group (UNH) Gains As Market Dips: What You Should Know
UnitedHealth Group (UNH) closed at $542.91 in the latest trading session, marking a +0.67% move from the prior day. This move outpaced the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.19%. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 0.01%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.19%.
Coming into today, shares of the largest U.S. health insurer had lost 2.48% in the past month. In that same time, the Medical sector gained 5.65%, while the S&P 500 gained 4.7%.
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 $5.17 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 15.4%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $82.53 billion, up 11.91% from the year-ago period.
Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $22.02 per share and revenue of $323.81 billion. These totals would mark changes of +15.77% and +12.59%, respectively, from last year.
Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for UnitedHealth Group. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.
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.
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. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.01% higher. UnitedHealth Group is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
Valuation is also important, so investors should note that UnitedHealth Group has a Forward P/E ratio of 24.5 right now. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 18.88, which means UnitedHealth Group is trading at a premium to the group.
Investors should also note that UNH has a PEG ratio of 1.68 right now. 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 1.2 as of yesterday's close.
The Medical - HMOs industry is part of the Medical sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 194, putting it in the bottom 24% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual 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
