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UnitedHealth Group (UNH) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, UnitedHealth Group (UNH - Free Report) closed at $491.28, marking a +0.44% move from the previous day. The stock lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.63%. At the same time, the Dow added 0.62%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.84%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the largest U.S. health insurer had lost 2.74% over the past month. This has lagged the Medical sector's loss of 1.03% and was narrower than the S&P 500's loss of 3.37% in that time.

Investors will be hoping for strength from UnitedHealth Group as it approaches its next earnings release. In that report, analysts expect UnitedHealth Group to post earnings of $6.36 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 9.84%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $91.43 billion, up 13.03% from the year-ago period.

UNH's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $24.83 per share and revenue of $367.83 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +11.9% and +13.47%, respectively.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for UnitedHealth Group. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. 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. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.02% lower within the past month. UnitedHealth Group is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Digging into valuation, UnitedHealth Group currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 19.7. This represents a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 16.2.

Meanwhile, UNH's PEG ratio is currently 1.44. 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. UNH's industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.09 as of yesterday's close.

The Medical - HMOs industry is part of the Medical sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 49, which puts it in the top 20% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank includes is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Make sure to utilize Zacks.com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.


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