Leerink says UnitedHealth preliminary Stars results better than feared

Leerink notes that this morning, UnitedHealth (UNH) released preliminary Stars results, estimating that it will have about 78% of membership in a 4-Star rated plan or higher for Stars Year 2026. This is better than last year’s results but in line with its historical average performance. These results come in better than feared considering the seemingly higher hurdle that UnitedHealth had to overcome in performance with the new weightings this year along with movement in the CAHPS cut points, the firm says. UnitedHealth seems to have broken from the traditional “embargo period” where plans are historically unable to share information with the public. Unclear what the read is into other plans for Stars, Leerink adds. The firm maintains an Outperform rating on the shares.