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If You Invested $1000 in Molina a Decade Ago, This is How Much It'd Be Worth Now

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How much a stock's price changes over time is a significant driver for most investors. Not only can price performance impact your portfolio, but it can help you compare investment results across sectors and industries as well.

FOMO, or the fear of missing out, also plays a role in investing, particularly with tech giants and popular consumer-facing stocks.

What if you'd invested in Molina (MOH - Free Report) ten years ago? It may not have been easy to hold on to MOH for all that time, but if you did, how much would your investment be worth today?

Molina's Business In-Depth

With that in mind, let's take a look at Molina's main business drivers.

Founded in 1980 and headquartered in Long Beach, CA, Molina Healthcare Inc. is a multi-state managed care organization participating exclusively in government-sponsored healthcare programs such as the Medicaid program and the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), catering to low-income persons. It is a FORTUNE 500 company.

The company provides managed healthcare services under the Medicaid and Medicare programs, and through the state insurance marketplaces (the Marketplace). Strong Medicare and Medicaid performance will buoy results.

Molina Healthcare was formerly known as American Family Care Inc. until it changed its name in Mar 2000. The company currently operates in two segments: Health Plans and Other. The company manages most of its operations through the Health Plans segment.

The Other segment mainly includes the results of the Pathways behavioral health unit, which Molina sold in the fourth quarter of 2018 apart from other corporate amounts not allocated to the segment.

As of Dec 31, 2022, the company served around 5.3 million members through its locally-operated health plans across several markets, indicating a 1.1% year-over-year increase. This is reflective of an improving business scenario.

The health plans are locally operated by wholly owned subsidiaries of Molina, each of which is licensed as a health maintenance organization, or HMO. Molina Healthcare derives revenues primarily from premiums paid to its health plans by the relevant state Medicaid authority. The premium revenues are jointly financed by the federal government and the states.

The company also derives revenues from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) in connection with its Medicare services.

Bottom Line

While anyone can invest, building a lucrative investment portfolio takes research, patience, and a little bit of risk. If you had invested in Molina ten years ago, you're probably feeling pretty good about your investment today.

A $1000 investment made in May 2013 would be worth $7,767.09, or a gain of 676.71%, as of May 18, 2023, according to our calculations. This return excludes dividends but includes price appreciation.

The S&P 500 rose 149.41% and the price of gold increased 40.56% over the same time frame in comparison.

Going forward, analysts are expecting more upside for MOH.

Molina Healthcare is poised for growth on the back of improving top-line and margin recovery. The company's enterprise-wide restructuring program to streamline structure and improve operational efficiency is providing impressive results. It reported strong first-quarter earnings thanks to growing premiums. Its solid 2023 guidance instills investors’ confidence. New contract wins continue to buoy MOH's results. Its balance sheet strength is impressive. Even though MOH's shares have underperformed its industry in a year, things are likely to improve in the future. However, a high MCR ratio indicates a smaller amount of premium will be left over after paying insurance claims. The company expects to lose around 50% of the 750,000 members it has gained since the beginning of the pandemic. As such, the stock warrants a cautious stance.

The stock is up 6.48% over the past four weeks, and no earnings estimate has gone lower in the past two months, compared to 6 higher, for fiscal 2023. The consensus estimate has moved up as well.

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