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UnitedHealth Group (UNH) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know

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UnitedHealth Group (UNH - Free Report) closed at $464.33 in the latest trading session, marking a +0.56% move from the prior day. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 1.46%. At the same time, the Dow added 1%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.17%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the largest U.S. health insurer had lost 6.25% over the past month. This has lagged the Medical sector's loss of 3.17% and was narrower than the S&P 500's loss of 6.94% in that time.

Investors will be hoping for strength from UnitedHealth Group as it approaches its next earnings release, which is expected to be July 15, 2022. On that day, UnitedHealth Group is projected to report earnings of $5.25 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 11.7%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $79.67 billion, up 11.71% from the prior-year quarter.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $21.76 per share and revenue of $320.9 billion, which would represent changes of +14.41% and +11.58%, respectively, from the prior year.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for UnitedHealth Group should also be noted by investors. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.

Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant within the past month. UnitedHealth Group is holding a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) right now.

In terms of valuation, UnitedHealth Group is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 21.23. This valuation marks a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 15.68.

Also, we should mention that UNH has a PEG ratio of 1.44. 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. UNH's industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.1 as of yesterday's close.

The Medical - HMOs industry is part of the Medical sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 85, which puts it in the top 34% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. 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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