UnitedHealth Group (UNH) closed the most recent trading day at $323.21, moving -1.99% from the previous trading session. The stock's performance was behind the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.53%. Meanwhile, the Dow lost 0.9%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, lost 0.38%.
Coming into today, shares of the largest U.S. health insurer had lost 3.45% in the past month. In that same time, the Medical sector gained 7.75%, while the S&P 500 lost 0.5%.
The investment community will be closely monitoring the performance of UnitedHealth Group in its forthcoming earnings report. The company is expected to report EPS of $2.07, down 69.6% from the prior-year quarter. In the meantime, our current consensus estimate forecasts the revenue to be $113.53 billion, indicating a 12.62% growth compared to the corresponding quarter of the prior year.
For the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $16.29 per share and revenue of $447.97 billion, which would represent changes of -41.11% and +11.91%, respectively, from the prior year.
It's also important for investors to be aware of any recent modifications to analyst estimates for UnitedHealth Group. These latest adjustments often mirror the shifting dynamics of short-term business patterns. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the business and profitability.
Our research reveals that these estimate alterations are directly linked with the stock price performance in the near future. 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 varies between #1 (Strong Buy) and #5 (Strong Sell), carries an impressive track record of exceeding expectations, confirmed by external audits, with stocks at #1 delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has witnessed a 0.05% decrease. UnitedHealth Group currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
Investors should also note UnitedHealth Group's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 20.25. This indicates a premium in contrast to its industry's Forward P/E of 13.48.
Also, we should mention that UNH has a PEG ratio of 2.15. Comparable to the widely accepted P/E ratio, the PEG ratio also accounts for the company's projected earnings growth. Medical - HMOs stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 1.31 based on yesterday's closing prices.
The Medical - HMOs industry is part of the Medical sector. With its current Zacks Industry Rank of 214, this industry ranks in the bottom 14% of all industries, numbering over 250.
The Zacks Industry Rank assesses the strength of our separate industry groups by calculating the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks contained 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 use Zacks.com to monitor all these stock-influencing metrics, and more, throughout the forthcoming 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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