Yahoo Finance UnitedHealth Group (UNH) Surpasses Market Returns: Some Facts Worth Knowing
In the latest trading session, UnitedHealth Group (UNH) closed at $497.44, marking a +0.42% move from the previous day. This move outpaced the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.11%. Meanwhile, the Dow experienced a drop of 0.3%, and the technology-dominated Nasdaq saw an increase of 0.56%.
Shares of the largest U.S. health insurer witnessed a gain of 0.59% over the previous month, trailing the performance of the Medical sector with its gain of 2.86% and the S&P 500's gain of 5.06%.
Investors will be eagerly watching for the performance of UnitedHealth Group in its upcoming earnings disclosure. In that report, analysts expect UnitedHealth Group to post earnings of $6.72 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 9.45%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $98.92 billion, up 6.48% from the year-ago period.
For the entire fiscal year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $27.57 per share and a revenue of $398.24 billion, representing changes of +9.75% and +7.16%, respectively, from the prior year.
Investors should also pay attention to any latest changes in analyst estimates for UnitedHealth Group. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.
Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.
The Zacks Rank system, ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), possesses a remarkable history of outdoing, externally audited, with #1 stocks returning an average annual gain of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, there's been a 0.11% fall in the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate. UnitedHealth Group is holding a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell) right now.
Looking at its valuation, UnitedHealth Group is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 17.97. This indicates a premium in contrast to its industry's Forward P/E of 16.47.
Also, we should mention that UNH has a PEG ratio of 1.44. Comparable to the widely accepted P/E ratio, the PEG ratio also accounts for the company's projected earnings growth. The Medical - HMOs was holding an average PEG ratio of 1.25 at yesterday's closing price.
The Medical - HMOs industry is part of the Medical sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 100, putting it in the top 40% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank assesses the vigor of our specific industry groups by computing the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks incorporated in 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
