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

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In the latest trading session, UnitedHealth Group (UNH - Free Report) closed at $401.74, marking a +0.37% move from the previous day. This move outpaced the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.02%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the largest U.S. health insurer had lost 4.9% over the past month. This has lagged the Medical sector's gain of 1.17% and the S&P 500's gain of 0.04% in that time.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from UNH as it approaches its next earnings report date. In that report, analysts expect UNH to post earnings of $4.40 per share. This would mark a year-over-year decline of 38.2%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $69.55 billion, up 11.92% from the prior-year quarter.

UNH's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $18.61 per share and revenue of $282.16 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +10.25% and +9.73%, respectively.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for UNH. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. 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. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.04% higher within the past month. UNH is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

In terms of valuation, UNH is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 21.51. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 18.39, which means UNH is trading at a premium to the group.

Also, we should mention that UNH has a PEG ratio of 1.62. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. The Medical - HMOs was holding an average PEG ratio of 1.2 at yesterday's closing price.

The Medical - HMOs industry is part of the Medical sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 50, which puts it in the top 20% 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.

To follow UNH in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.


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