UnitedHealth Group (UNH) Gains As Market Dips: What You Should Know

This story originally appeared on Zacks

UnitedHealth Group (UNH) closed the most recent trading day at $465, moving +1.4% from the previous trading session. The stock outpaced the S&P 500’s daily loss of 0.14%. Meanwhile, the Dow lost 0.45%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, lost 0.02%.

– Zacks

Coming into today, shares of the largest U.S. health insurer had lost 4.1% in the past month. In that same time, the Medical sector lost 2.72%, while the S&P 500 lost 0.13%.

UnitedHealth Group will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release, which is expected to be January 19, 2022. On that day, UnitedHealth Group is projected to report earnings of $4.30 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 70.63%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $73.1 billion, up 11.66% from the year-ago period.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for UnitedHealth Group. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company’s business and profitability.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, 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. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.01% higher within the past month. UnitedHealth Group is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.

Looking at its valuation, UnitedHealth Group is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 21.12. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 15.23, so we one might conclude that UnitedHealth Group is trading at a premium comparatively.

Investors should also note that UNH has a PEG ratio of 1.47 right now. 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 1.11 at yesterday’s closing price.

The Medical – HMOs industry is part of the Medical sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 107, putting it in the top 42% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank includes is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Make sure to utilize Zacks.com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.

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