UnitedHealth Group (UNH) closed the most recent trading day at $379.09, moving -2.37% from the previous trading session. This change lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.86%. At the same time, the Dow added 0.98%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.96%.
The stock of largest U.S. health insurer has fallen by 2.7% in the past month, lagging the Medical sector's loss of 2.34% and the S&P 500's loss of 1.96%.
Investors will be eagerly watching for the performance of UnitedHealth Group in its upcoming earnings disclosure. The company's upcoming EPS is projected at $4.03, signifying a 38.01% increase compared to the same quarter of the previous year. In the meantime, our current consensus estimate forecasts the revenue to be $111.38 billion, indicating a 1.57% decline compared to the corresponding quarter of the prior year.
For the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates project earnings of $19.82 per share and a revenue of $446.78 billion, demonstrating changes of +21.22% and -0.18%, respectively, from the preceding year.
It's also important for investors to be aware of any recent modifications to analyst estimates for UnitedHealth Group. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the business outlook.
Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-term stock moves. To exploit this, we've formed the Zacks Rank, a quantitative model that includes these estimate changes and presents a viable 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 past month, there's been a 0.57% rise in the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate. UnitedHealth Group presently features a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
In terms of valuation, UnitedHealth Group is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 19.59. This valuation marks a discount compared to its industry average Forward P/E of 22.75.
Meanwhile, UNH's PEG ratio is currently 1.46. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. The Medical - HMOs was holding an average PEG ratio of 1.46 at yesterday's closing price.
The Medical - HMOs industry is part of the Medical sector. With its current Zacks Industry Rank of 30, this industry ranks in the top 13% of all industries, numbering over 250.
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.
Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many 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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