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Here's How Much You'd Have If You Invested $1000 in Centene a Decade Ago

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How much a stock's price changes over time is important for most investors, since price performance can both impact your investment portfolio and help you compare investment results across sectors and industries.

The fear of missing out, or FOMO, also plays a factor in investing, especially with particular tech giants, as well as popular consumer-facing stocks.

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

Centene's Business In-Depth

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

Centene Corporation is a well-diversified healthcare company that primarily provides a set of services to the government sponsored healthcare programs. The company serves the under-insured and uninsured individuals through member-focused services. It is also engaged in providing education and outreach programs to inform and assist members in accessing quality, appropriate healthcare services.

Centene offered healthcare services to 28.5 million members across 50 states as of Mar 31, 2023. The acquisition of WellCare Health leveraged the company’s position as the largest Medicaid managed care organization in the country. The combined entity now has 22 million members. The company retained its market-leading position nationwide, serving 27.1 million members at the year-end of 2022.

Through a diversified product portfolio and expanding geographic reach, Centene continues to deliver results by executing on our strategy, growing premium and service revenues profitably. This is evidenced by organic growth within its existing states, new Medicaid contracts, new contract awards in innovative healthcare services, key acquisitions to enhance its medical management platform and participation in Health Insurance Marketplaces. Centene acquired Health Net on Mar 24, 2016 which became its wholly owned subsidiary.

Centene offers affordable and high-quality products to nearly 1 in 15 individuals across the nation. Founded as a single health plan in Wisconsin in 1984, Centene has established itself as a national leader in healthcare services.

Following certain divestments and strategic initiatives, the company changed its segments to Medicaid, Medicare, Commercial, and Other. The Commercial segment incorporates Health Insurance Marketplace and other commercial healthcare products. The Other segment comprises the pharmacy business, vision and dental services, clinical healthcare, behavioral health, international operations, and other operations.

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 Centene ten years ago, you're probably feeling pretty good about your investment today.

According to our calculations, a $1000 investment made in October 2013 would be worth $4,263.17, or a 326.32% gain, as of October 2, 2023. Investors should keep in mind that this return excludes dividends but includes price appreciation.

In comparison, the S&P 500 gained 153.47% and the price of gold went up 34.94% over the same time frame.

Going forward, analysts are expecting more upside for CNC.

Centene’s top line has been witnessing consistent growth. It expects revenues to be within $147.3-$149.3 million in 2023. It boasts an impressive inorganic growth strategy for expanding to new markets. Centene also does not shy away from selling non-core businesses to focus on growing its more profitable Managed Care business. Its 2023 EPS outlook of at least $6.45 indicates significant year-over-year increase. Even though the company's shares have underperformed the industry in a year, things are likely to improve in the future on growing operating strength. However, high operating expenses have been weighing on its margins. Its weak return on equity of 14.2% compares unfavorably with the industry average of 23.1%. The firm's high debt level reflects inadequate financial flexibility. As such, the stock warrants a cautious stance.

The stock is up 12.42% over the past four weeks, and no earnings estimate has gone lower in the past two months, compared to 5 higher, for fiscal 2023. The consensus estimate has moved up as well.

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