In the latest close session, UnitedHealth Group (UNH) was down 1.78% at $345.56. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.5%. Elsewhere, the Dow saw a downswing of 0.38%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq depreciated by 0.5%.
Shares of the largest U.S. health insurer witnessed a gain of 15.77% over the previous month, beating the performance of the Medical sector with its loss of 0.7%, and the S&P 500's gain of 2.74%.
The investment community will be paying close attention to the earnings performance of UnitedHealth Group in its upcoming release. The company is slated to reveal its earnings on October 28, 2025. The company is expected to report EPS of $2.87, down 59.86% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $113.54 billion, up 12.61% from the year-ago period.
For the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $16.21 per share and revenue of $448.87 billion, which would represent changes of -41.4% and +12.14%, respectively, from the prior year.
It's also important for investors to be aware of any recent modifications to analyst estimates for UnitedHealth Group. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the business and profitability.
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 ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.82% lower. Currently, UnitedHealth Group is carrying a Zacks Rank of #5 (Strong Sell).
With respect to valuation, UnitedHealth Group is currently being traded at a Forward P/E ratio of 21.71. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 15.41, which means UnitedHealth Group is trading at a premium to the group.
Meanwhile, UNH's PEG ratio is currently 2.27. The PEG ratio is akin to the commonly utilized P/E ratio, but this measure also incorporates the company's anticipated earnings growth rate. As of the close of trade yesterday, the Medical - HMOs industry held an average PEG ratio of 1.41.
The Medical - HMOs industry is part of the Medical sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 234, which puts it in the bottom 6% 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 ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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