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UnitedHealth Group (UNH) Advances While Market Declines: Some Information for Investors

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UnitedHealth Group (UNH - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $285.25, moving +1.03% from the previous trading session. The stock's performance was ahead of the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.08%. Meanwhile, the Dow experienced a drop of 0.61%, and the technology-dominated Nasdaq saw an increase of 0.08%.

Coming into today, shares of the largest U.S. health insurer had gained 3.34% in the past month. In that same time, the Medical sector lost 2.21%, while the S&P 500 lost 2.16%.

Investors will be eagerly watching for the performance of UnitedHealth Group in its upcoming earnings disclosure. It is anticipated that the company will report an EPS of $6.76, marking a 6.11% fall compared to the same quarter of the previous year. Simultaneously, our latest consensus estimate expects the revenue to be $110.26 billion, showing a 0.62% escalation compared to the year-ago quarter.

Regarding the entire year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates forecast earnings of $17.7 per share and revenue of $440.44 billion, indicating changes of +8.26% and -1.59%, respectively, compared to the previous year.

Investors should also pay attention to any latest changes in analyst estimates for UnitedHealth Group. These latest adjustments often mirror the shifting dynamics of short-term business patterns. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the business outlook.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-term stock moves. To take advantage of this, we've established the Zacks Rank, an exclusive model that considers these estimated changes and delivers an operational 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 has moved 0.08% higher within the past month. As of now, UnitedHealth Group holds a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

With respect to valuation, UnitedHealth Group is currently being traded at a Forward P/E ratio of 15.95. This denotes a premium relative to the industry average Forward P/E of 15.02.

It is also worth noting that UNH currently has a PEG ratio of 1.3. 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 had an average PEG ratio of 0.93 as trading concluded yesterday.

The Medical - HMOs industry is part of the Medical sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 224, which puts it in the bottom 9% 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.

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

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