UnitedHealth Group Earnings Preview: What to Expect

With a market cap of $494.3 billion, UnitedHealth Group Included (UNH) is a number one diversified healthcare firm providing a broad vary of well being advantages and technology-enabled well being companies within the U.S. and globally. Working by means of two primary companies, UnitedHealthcare and Optum, the corporate delivers care and protection options to people, employers, and public-sector entities.

The biggest U.S. well being insurer is anticipated to announce its fiscal Q1 2025 earnings outcomes earlier than the market opens on Thursday, Apr. 17. Forward of this occasion, analysts anticipate UnitedHealth to report a revenue of $7.27 per share, up 5.2% from $6.91 per share within the earlier 12 months’s quarter. It has surpassed Wall Road’s bottom-line estimates previously 4 quarters. In This fall 2024, UNH exceeded the consensus EPS estimate by 1.5%.

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For fiscal 2025, analysts anticipate the Eden Prairie, Minnesota-based firm to report EPS of $29.63, up 7.1% from $27.66 in fiscal 2024. Furthermore, EPS is anticipated to develop 12.5% year-over-year to $33.33 in fiscal 2026.

UNH has outperformed the broader markets over the previous 52 weeks, with shares up 17.6%, in comparison with the S&P 500 Index’s ($SPX) 3.6% gain and the Well being Care Choose Sector SPDR Fund’s (XLV) marginal dip over the identical interval. 

Regardless of reporting a better-than-expected This fall 2024 adjusted EPS of $6.81, UnitedHealth’s shares fell over 6% on Jan. 16. Quarterly income got here in at $100.8 billion, falling short of analysts’ expectations. The corporate’s medical loss ratio (MLR) rose to 87.6% for the quarter and 85.5% for the total 12 months, signaling elevated healthcare prices. Investor issues had been amplified by authorities reimbursement pressures and scrutiny over OptumRx’s pharmacy profit practices regardless of reaffirmed 2025 steerage of $450 billion – $455 billion in income and adjusted EPS of $29.50 – $30.

Furthermore, the inventory dipped 7.2% on Feb. 21 after the U.S. Department of Justice launched an investigation into its Medicare Benefit billing practices, specializing in analysis coding that reinforces authorities funds. The drop was compounded by ongoing antitrust scrutiny and regulatory pushback on its $3.3 billion Amedisys acquisition

Analysts’ consensus ranking on UNH inventory is bullish, with a “Strong Buy” ranking general. Out of 24 analysts masking the inventory, opinions embody 22 “Strong Buys” and two “Reasonable Buys.” The typical analyst value goal for UNH is $635.12, suggesting a possible upside of 17.5% from present ranges. 

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