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

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In the latest trading session, UnitedHealth Group (UNH - Free Report) closed at $308.82, marking a -1.09% move from the previous day. This change lagged the S&P 500's 1.02% gain on the day. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 0.3%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 1.73%.

Heading into today, shares of the largest U.S. health insurer had gained 4.1% over the past month, outpacing the Medical sector's gain of 1.3% and lagging the S&P 500's gain of 7.25% in that time.

Investors will be hoping for strength from UNH as it approaches its next earnings release. The company is expected to report EPS of $2.98, down 23.2% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $63.73 billion, up 5.61% from the year-ago period.

UNH's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $16.58 per share and revenue of $255.06 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +9.73% and +5.33%, respectively.

It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for UNH. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. 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 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. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.07% higher. UNH is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Digging into valuation, UNH currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 18.83. This valuation marks a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 15.4.

It is also worth noting that UNH currently has a PEG ratio of 1.49. 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. UNH's industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.49 as of yesterday's close.

The Medical - HMOs industry is part of the Medical sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 34, putting it in the top 14% 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.

You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.


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