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

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For most investors, how much a stock's price changes over time is important. Not only can it impact your investment portfolio, but it can also help you compare investment results across sectors and industries.

Another thing that can drive investing is the fear of missing out, or FOMO. This particularly applies to tech giants and popular consumer-facing stocks.

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

Elevance Health's Business In-Depth

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

Based in Indianapolis, IN, Elevance Health is one of the largest publicly traded health insurers in the United States, in terms of membership. The company was previously named Anthem, Inc. Effective Jun 27, 2022, the corporate name was changed to Elevance Health and began trading under the ticker “ELV” on Jun 28. Before Anthem, it was named WellPoint Inc.

The company is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association (BCBSA). Medical membership of Elevance Health as of Mar 31, 2023, totaled 48.1 million. With the latest name change the company announced a rejig of its brand portfolio. The company is expected to organize its brand portfolio into Anthem Blue Cross/Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Wellpoint, and Carelon core got-to-market brands.

Elevance Health currently operates through four reportable segments:

Health Benefits (aggregation of the previously known Commercial & Specialty Business and Government Business), CarelonRx (previously IngenioRx), Carelon Services (previously Diversified Business Group), and Corporate & Other.

Health Benefits now encompasses group risk-based and fee-based, Individual and BlueCard businesses. It offers administrative managed care services to fee-based clients. Furthermore, this unit offers products like vision, dental, life, disability and supplemental health insurance benefits. Also, the segment consists of Medicaid, Medicare businesses and National Government Services.

The healthcare services brand Carelon was launched in June 2022 as part of ELV’s rebranding process. The company provides aggregated results of CarelonRx and Carelon Services under the Carelon subhead.

Bottom Line

Putting together a successful investment portfolio takes a combination of research, patience, and a little bit of risk. For Elevance Health, if you bought shares a decade ago, you're likely feeling really good about your investment today.

A $1000 investment made in August 2013 would be worth $5,267.54, or a 426.75% gain, as of August 10, 2023, according to our calculations. Investors should note that this return excludes dividends but includes price increases.

The S&P 500 rose 164.14% and the price of gold increased 40.15% over the same time frame in comparison.

Analysts are anticipating more upside for ELV.

Elevance Health's improving top line can be attributed to premium rate increases and higher memberships. The company beat earnings estimates in the second quarter of 2023. Acquisitions and collaborations have enabled the company to strengthen its business portfolio. Its well-performing Medicare and Medicaid businesses, coupled with several contract wins, are expected to drive its membership going ahead. The company's growing Carelon business is a major positive. ELV utilizes excess capital to boost shareholder value. However, the company's escalating expenses continue to put pressure on margins. Shares of ELV outperformed the industry in the past year. However, its declining cash flows can be concerning. ELV's balance sheet with a rising debt level can affect financial flexibility. As such, the stock warrants a cautious stance.

Over the past four weeks, shares have rallied 11.16%, and there have been 9 higher earnings estimate revisions in the past two months for fiscal 2023 compared to none lower. The consensus estimate has moved up as well.

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