Health and Healthcare
What to Watch in the UnitedHealth Earnings Report Tuesday
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UnitedHealth Group Inc. (NYSE: UNH) is set to release its third-quarter financial results before the markets open on Tuesday. Consensus estimates call for $3.75 in earnings per share (EPS) and $59.79 billion in revenue. In the same period of last year, the company said it had EPS of $3.41 and $56.56 billion in revenue.
This is the largest health insurer in America, and it has a lot to lose if a Medicare-for-all plan, or something similar, replaces the current system. Not to mention, Democratic presidential candidates are already voicing their ideas of what they would change about health care in the United States if elected president.
UnitedHealth is not the only one. Many of these health insurers have sold off handily from their highs as the growing worries about universal health insurance and other health care pricing issues have been large focal points for presidential candidates ahead of the 2020 elections.
In the second quarter, UnitedHealth reported that revenues grew 8.0% year over year to $60.6 billion, led by double-digit percentage revenue growth at UnitedHealthcare Medicare & Retirement, OptumRx and OptumHealth.
UnitedHealth stock has underperformed the broad markets, with its shares down over 15% in the past 52 weeks. In just 2018 alone, the stock is down closer to 11%.
A few analysts weighed in on UnitedHealth ahead of the report:
- Barclays has a Buy rating and a $260 price target.
- Jefferies has a Hold rating with a $235 price target.
- Raymond James has a Buy rating with a $300 target.
- Cantor Fitzgerald’s Buy rating comes with a $310 target.
- BMO has a Market Perform rating and a $249 price target.
- Morgan Stanley has an Overweight rating and a $294 target.
- Deutsche Bank has a Hold rating with a $263 target price.
Shares of UnitedHealth traded at $222.09 on Monday, with a consensus price target of $287.75 and in a 52-week trading range of $208.07 to $287.94.
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