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UnitedHealth Group (UNH) Ascends While Market Falls: Some Facts to Note

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UnitedHealth Group (UNH - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $542.03, moving +0.5% from the previous trading session. This move outpaced the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.8%. Elsewhere, the Dow lost 0.76%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 1.18%.

The largest U.S. health insurer's shares have seen a decrease of 1.98% over the last month, not keeping up with the Medical sector's gain of 5.8% and the S&P 500's gain of 3.4%.

Market participants will be closely following the financial results of UnitedHealth Group in its upcoming release. The company plans to announce its earnings on January 12, 2024. The company is expected to report EPS of $5.98, up 11.99% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, the latest consensus estimate predicts the revenue to be $91.97 billion, indicating a 11.09% increase compared to the same quarter of the previous year.

Investors should also take note of any recent adjustments to analyst estimates for UnitedHealth Group. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. Hence, positive alterations in estimates signify analyst optimism regarding the company's business and profitability.

Empirical research indicates that these revisions in estimates have a direct correlation with impending stock price performance. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, there's been a 0.12% rise in the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate. UnitedHealth Group is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.

With respect to valuation, UnitedHealth Group is currently being traded at a Forward P/E ratio of 19.34. This signifies a premium in comparison to the average Forward P/E of 14.96 for its industry.

We can additionally observe that UNH currently boasts a PEG ratio of 1.47. 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 industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 1.03 as of yesterday's close.

The Medical - HMOs industry is part of the Medical sector. With its current Zacks Industry Rank of 64, this industry ranks in the top 26% of all industries, numbering over 250.

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.

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


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