Centene rallying along with UnitedHealth, says Barclays

Barclays says Centene’s (CNC) rally today is in tandem with UnitedHealth’s (UNH), indicating a positive read-through from the latter’s investor meetings and Medicare Advantage star update. Barclays sees a growing debate among investors on the directional message of Centene’s “unexpected” conference appearance Thursday morning, with most expecting a negative update focused on deteriorating Medicaid trends. However, Centene has “idiosyncratic exposure” to the Applied Behavioral Analysis population in the Florida Children’s Medical Services contract, which may bring a “positively differentiated” Medicaid update for the July/August timeframe, the analyst tells investors in a research note. Centene shares are up 6% to $30.57 in afternoon trading. Barclays keeps an Equal Weight rating on the stock with a $33 price target.