In the latest trading session, UnitedHealth Group (UNH) closed at $319.97, marking a +2.71% move from the previous day. The stock's performance was ahead of the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.98%. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 1.08%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 0.88%.
The largest U.S. health insurer's shares have seen a decrease of 13.57% over the last month, not keeping up with the Medical sector's gain of 4.76% and the S&P 500's loss of 2.79%.
Investors will be eagerly watching for the performance of UnitedHealth Group in its upcoming earnings disclosure. The company's upcoming EPS is projected at $2.07, signifying a 69.60% drop compared to the same quarter of the previous year. Simultaneously, our latest consensus estimate expects the revenue to be $113.53 billion, showing a 12.62% escalation compared to the year-ago quarter.
In terms of the entire fiscal year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates predict earnings of $16.29 per share and a revenue of $447.97 billion, indicating changes of -41.11% and +11.91%, respectively, from the former year.
Investors should also take note of any recent adjustments to analyst estimates for UnitedHealth Group. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. As a result, upbeat changes in estimates indicate analysts' favorable outlook on the business health and profitability.
Our research demonstrates that these adjustments in estimates directly associate with imminent stock price performance. To utilize this, we have created the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model that integrates these estimate changes and provides a functional rating system.
The Zacks Rank system, stretching from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has a noteworthy track record of outperforming, validated by third-party audits, with stocks rated #1 producing an average annual return of +25% since the year 1988. Over the last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.66% higher. UnitedHealth Group presently features a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
In the context of valuation, UnitedHealth Group is at present trading with a Forward P/E ratio of 19.13. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 11.81, which means UnitedHealth Group is trading at a premium to the group.
We can additionally observe that UNH currently boasts a PEG ratio of 2.03. Comparable to the widely accepted P/E ratio, the PEG ratio also accounts for the company's projected earnings growth. The Medical - HMOs industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 1.16 as of yesterday's close.
The Medical - HMOs industry is part of the Medical sector. At present, this industry carries a Zacks Industry Rank of 203, placing it within the bottom 18% of over 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.
Don't forget to use Zacks.com to keep track of all these stock-moving metrics, and others, in the upcoming trading sessions.
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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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