Yahoo Finance UnitedHealth Group (UNH) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know
UnitedHealth Group (UNH) closed at $252.02 in the latest trading session, marking a +0.61% move from the prior day. This change lagged the S&P 500's 1.09% gain on the day. At the same time, the Dow added 0.84%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 1.42%.
Heading into today, shares of the largest U.S. health insurer had lost 7.05% over the past month, lagging the Medical sector's gain of 1.58% and the S&P 500's gain of 1.18% in that time.
Investors will be hoping for strength from UNH as it approaches its next earnings release. The company is expected to report EPS of $3.58, up 17.76% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $59.66 billion, up 8.11% from the prior-year quarter.
For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $14.62 per share and revenue of $244.23 billion, which would represent changes of +13.51% and +7.95%, respectively, from the prior year.
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. 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. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an actionable rating system.
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 remained stagnant within the past month. UNH is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.
Digging into valuation, UNH currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 17.13. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 15.79, so we one might conclude that UNH is trading at a premium comparatively.
Also, we should mention that UNH has a PEG ratio of 1.28. 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 1.15 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 26, which puts it in the top 11% 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.
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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