In the latest trading session, UnitedHealth Group (UNH) closed at $503.80, marking a +0.96% move from the previous day. This move outpaced the S&P 500's daily loss of 1.07%. Elsewhere, the Dow lost 0.62%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 1.71%.
Heading into today, shares of the largest U.S. health insurer had lost 4.68% over the past month, lagging the Medical sector's gain of 0.53% and outpacing the S&P 500's loss of 7.03% in that time.
The investment community will be closely monitoring the performance of UnitedHealth Group in its forthcoming earnings report. It is anticipated that the company will report an EPS of $7.24, marking a 4.78% rise compared to the same quarter of the previous year. In the meantime, our current consensus estimate forecasts the revenue to be $111.01 billion, indicating a 11.24% growth compared to the corresponding quarter of the prior year.
For the entire fiscal year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $29.54 per share and a revenue of $451.2 billion, representing changes of +6.8% and +12.72%, respectively, from the prior year.
It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for UnitedHealth Group. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.
Our research demonstrates that these adjustments in estimates directly associate with imminent stock price performance. To take advantage of this, we've established the Zacks Rank, an exclusive model that considers these estimated changes and delivers an operational 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 witnessed an unchanged state. UnitedHealth Group currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
With respect to valuation, UnitedHealth Group is currently being traded at a Forward P/E ratio of 16.89. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 15.06, so one might conclude that UnitedHealth Group is trading at a premium comparatively.
One should further note that UNH currently holds a PEG ratio of 1.36. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. The Medical - HMOs industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 1.1 as of yesterday's close.
The Medical - HMOs industry is part of the Medical sector. Currently, this industry holds a Zacks Industry Rank of 185, positioning it in the bottom 27% 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.
Ensure to harness Zacks.com to stay updated with all these stock-shifting metrics, among others, in the next trading sessions.
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
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