Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH)
NYSE:UNH
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UnitedHealth
(NYSE:UNH)
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Rating:73Outperform
Price Target:
$386.00
▲(18.90% Upside)
Action:ReiteratedDate:04/22/26
UNH scores well on financial strength and cash generation (despite margin/ROE compression), supported by strong current price momentum. The score is held back by a less attractive valuation and earnings-call risks around 2026 membership contraction, Medicaid pressure and regulatory/seasonality uncertainty.
Positive Factors
Diversified integrated model (UnitedHealthcare + Optum)
UnitedHealth’s combination of a scale insurance franchise and a broad services platform creates durable revenue diversification and internal demand for Optum services. This vertical integration supports cross-sell, negotiating leverage with providers/pharmacies and resilience versus single-segment shocks.
Negative Factors
Membership contraction (Medicare & ACA)
Sustained declines in enrolled members reduce underwriting scale, premium volume and network leverage, pressuring revenue and risk pooling dynamics. A material shrink in ACA and Medicare can lower fixed‑cost absorption and make year‑over‑year margin recovery harder to sustain.
Read all positive and negative factors
Positive Factors
Negative Factors
Diversified integrated model (UnitedHealthcare + Optum)
UnitedHealth’s combination of a scale insurance franchise and a broad services platform creates durable revenue diversification and internal demand for Optum services. This vertical integration supports cross-sell, negotiating leverage with providers/pharmacies and resilience versus single-segment shocks.
Read all positive factors
UnitedHealth (UNH) vs. SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY)
Market Cap
$322.15B
Dividend Yield2.69%
Average Volume (3M)8.38M
Price to Earnings (P/E)9.8
Beta (1Y)0.40
Revenue Growth9.67%
EPS GrowthN/A
CountryUS
Employees400,000
SectorHealthcare
Sector Strength45
IndustryMedical - Healthcare Plans
Share Statistics
EPS (TTM)7.23
Shares Outstanding907,675,840
10 Day Avg. Volume8,327,799
30 Day Avg. Volume8,381,633
Financial Highlights & Ratios
PEG Ratio-1.62
Price to Book (P/B)3.19
Price to Sales (P/S)0.67
P/FCF Ratio18.69
Enterprise Value/Market Cap1.15
Enterprise Value/Revenue0.83
Enterprise Value/Gross Profit4.40
Enterprise Value/Ebitda16.18
Forecast
1Y Price Target
$385.65Price Target Upside18.80% Upside
Rating ConsensusStrong Buy
Number of Analyst Covering24
EPS Forecast (FY)18.27
Revenue Forecast (FY)$443.30B
UnitedHealth Business Overview & Revenue Model
Company Description
UnitedHealth Group Incorporated operates as a diversified health care company in the United States. It operates through four segments: UnitedHealthcare, Optum Health, Optum Insight, and Optum Rx. The UnitedHealthcare segment offers consumer-orient...
How the Company Makes Money
UnitedHealth primarily makes money through (1) health plan premiums and government program payments in its UnitedHealthcare segment and (2) service and product revenues across its Optum segment.
1) UnitedHealthcare (health benefits)
- Premiums an...
UnitedHealth Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Any
Revenue by Type
Categorizes income by source, such as premiums, services, or products, revealing diversification and potential vulnerabilities in revenue streams.
Categorizes income by source, such as premiums, services, or products, revealing diversification and potential vulnerabilities in revenue streams.
Data provided by:
The Fly
The FlyUnitedHealth Earnings Call Summary
Earnings Call Date:Apr 21, 2026
(Q1-2026)
| % Change Since: |
Next Earnings Date:Jul 10, 2026
Earnings Call Sentiment Positive
The call portrayed a generally constructive and improving operational picture: the company delivered an earnings beat, modest revenue growth, improved medical care ratio, strong cash generation and clear early progress at Optum Health and Optum Rx driven by operational improvements and digital/AI initiatives. Management emphasized disciplined pricing, continued investments in AI (nearly $1.5B in 2026) and capital returns, while acknowledging known challenges such as membership contraction (including a large ACA decline), Medicaid funding pressure, persistently elevated medical trends, one-time seasonal and prior-year tailwinds, and regulatory uncertainties that could temper future performance. Overall, leadership signaled cautious optimism with continued focus on execution and margin recovery, but noted that meaningful second-quarter data and the back-half seasonality will be important to confirm sustainability.Positive Updates
Adjusted EPS Beat
Reported adjusted earnings per share of $7.23 in Q1, materially ahead of expectations and supporting an updated full-year outlook of greater than $18.25 per share.
Negative Updates
Membership Contraction
Total U.S. membership declined to 49.1 million from 49.8 million at end of 2025; company expects total membership to contract consistent with prior guidance and highlighted an anticipated drop of ~1.3 million members for the year.
Read all updates
Q1-2026 Updates
Positive
Negative
Adjusted EPS Beat
Reported adjusted earnings per share of $7.23 in Q1, materially ahead of expectations and supporting an updated full-year outlook of greater than $18.25 per share.
Read all positive updates
Company Guidance
UnitedHealth refreshed its full‑year outlook to greater than $18.25 GAAP‑adjusted EPS after a strong Q1 that produced $7.23 of adjusted EPS on $111.7 billion of revenue (up 2% YoY), $8.9 billion of operating cash flow (1.4x net income), and 49.1 million domestic members (down from 49.8M at year‑end 2025); Q1 medical care ratio was 83.9% (vs. 84.8% a year ago) and the operating cost ratio was 13.8% (Q1 included ~$900M of incentive comp vs. $35M in Q1‑2025). Management expects roughly two‑thirds of 2026 earnings in H1 (UnitedHealthcare >75% H1‑weighted; Optum Health and UHC earnings concentrated in H1; Optum Insight and Optum Rx ~60% of earnings in H2), a Medicare membership contraction of about 1.3M and ACA membership to fall ~1/3 in 2026, and reiterated targets including Optum Health long‑term margins of 6–8%, a year‑ahead AI investment plan of nearly $1.5B, at least $2B of share repurchases by end‑Q2, a debt‑to‑capital ratio at 42.9% with a year‑end goal of 40%, prior‑year development tailwinds of a little north of $500M in Q1, and operational goals (reduce medical prior authorizations 30%+, 95% of PAs electronic, ~50% processed real‑time, >90% approved within 1 business day) alongside digital adoption metrics (≈50% of members registered, 73M digital visits in Q1, >80% of consumer contacts digital, provider transactions +75% YoY, ~75% of in‑network providers on portal/APIs).UnitedHealth Financial Statement Overview
Summary
Income Statement
72
Positive
Balance Sheet
74
Positive
Cash Flow
76
Positive
| Breakdown | TTM | Dec 2025 | Dec 2024 | Dec 2023 | Dec 2022 | Dec 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Income Statement | ||||||
| Total Revenue | 449.71B | 447.57B | 400.28B | 371.62B | 324.16B | 287.60B |
| Gross Profit | 84.55B | 82.92B | 89.40B | 90.96B | 79.62B | 69.65B |
| EBITDA | 22.99B | 23.06B | 28.08B | 36.33B | 31.84B | 27.07B |
| Net Income | 12.04B | 12.06B | 14.40B | 22.38B | 20.12B | 17.29B |
Balance Sheet | ||||||
| Total Assets | 312.64B | 309.58B | 298.28B | 273.72B | 245.71B | 212.21B |
| Cash, Cash Equivalents and Short-Term Investments | 31.23B | 28.12B | 29.11B | 29.63B | 27.91B | 23.91B |
| Total Debt | 77.92B | 78.39B | 76.90B | 67.44B | 57.62B | 46.00B |
| Total Liabilities | 207.32B | 207.88B | 195.69B | 174.80B | 159.36B | 135.73B |
| Stockholders Equity | 103.89B | 94.11B | 92.66B | 88.76B | 77.77B | 71.76B |
Cash Flow | ||||||
| Free Cash Flow | 19.67B | 16.07B | 20.70B | 25.68B | 23.40B | 19.89B |
| Operating Cash Flow | 23.15B | 19.70B | 24.20B | 29.07B | 26.21B | 22.34B |
| Investing Cash Flow | -10.89B | -8.69B | -20.53B | -15.57B | -28.48B | -10.37B |
| Financing Cash Flow | -14.73B | -11.64B | -3.51B | -11.53B | 4.23B | -7.46B |
UnitedHealth Technical Analysis
Positive
324.63
Price Trends
285.41
Positive
305.06
Positive
308.91
Positive
Market Momentum
9.84
Negative
73.37
Negative
92.74
Negative
Evaluating momentum and price trends is crucial in stock analysis to make informed investment decisions. For UNH, the sentiment is Positive. The current price of 324.63 is above the 20-day moving average (MA) of 289.36, above the 50-day MA of 285.41, and above the 200-day MA of 308.91, indicating a bullish trend. The MACD of 9.84 indicates Negative momentum. The RSI at 73.37 is Negative, neither overbought nor oversold. The STOCH value of 92.74 is Negative, not indicating any strong overbought or oversold conditions. Overall, these indicators collectively point to a Positive sentiment for UNH.
UnitedHealth Risk Analysis
UnitedHealth disclosed 21 risk factors in its most recent earnings report. UnitedHealth reported the most risks in the "Legal & Regulatory" category.
Finance & Corporate - Financial and accounting risks. Risks related to the execution of corporate activity and strategy
Latest Risks Added 0 New Risks
UnitedHealth Peers Comparison
UnderperformOutperform
Sector (51)
Name | Overall Rating | Market Cap | P/E Ratio | ROE | Dividend Yield | Revenue Growth | EPS Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
75 Outperform | $74.87B | 9.15 | 11.95% | 1.99% | 9.44% | -8.53% | |
73 Outperform | $322.15B | 9.80 | 12.40% | 2.69% | 9.67% | ― | |
54 Neutral | $9.17B | 121.40 | 4.44% | ― | 7.72% | -83.64% | |
53 Neutral | $99.89B | 56.87 | 2.34% | 3.41% | 7.89% | -61.77% | |
51 Neutral | $7.86B | -0.30 | -43.30% | 2.27% | 22.53% | -2.21% | |
51 Neutral | $25.84B | 25.97 | 6.59% | 1.38% | 10.11% | -1.58% | |
50 Neutral | $20.57B | -3.03 | -27.74% | ― | 19.44% | -317.13% |
* Healthcare Sector Average
UNH
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ELV
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356.13
-49.04
-12.10%
UnitedHealth Corporate Events
Business Operations and Strategy
UnitedHealth to Present at Barclays Global Healthcare Conference
Positive
Mar 9, 2026
UnitedHealth Group said senior leaders will participate in an interview-style session at the Barclays 28th Annual Global Healthcare Conference on March 10, 2026, at 11:30 a.m. Eastern Time. The discussion will cover the company’s strategy, m...
Business Operations and StrategyExecutive/Board Changes
UnitedHealth Realigns Finance Leadership, Appoints New Accounting Chief
Neutral
Mar 2, 2026
UnitedHealth Group said its board appointed Dennis Stankiewicz, 48, as Chief Accounting Officer effective March 2, 2026, while he continues in his role as Corporate Controller, which he has held since April 17, 2023. Stankiewicz, who joined the co...
Business Operations and StrategyExecutive/Board ChangesRegulatory Filings and Compliance
UnitedHealth Tightens Executive Stock Option Holding Requirements
Positive
Feb 25, 2026
On February 23, 2026, UnitedHealth Group’s Compensation and Human Resources Committee amended a stock option granted to executive Stephen Hemsley on May 14, 2025. The change imposes a two-year share holding requirement after the existing thr...
Glossary
BuyA stock rated as a "Buy" is expected to perform better than the overall market or a specific benchmark over the near-to-medium term. This rating suggests the stock is likely to deliver higher returns compared to other stocks in the same sector or market index. Note: This is not investment advice; please consult a financial advisor before making investment decisions.
HoldA stock rated as a "Hold" is expected to perform in line with the overall market or a specific benchmark. This rating indicates that the stock is neither particularly compelling nor unfavorable for investment. Note: This is not investment advice; please consult a financial advisor before making investment decisions.
SellA stock rated as a "Sell" is expected to perform worse than the overall market or a specific benchmark over the near-to-medium term. This rating suggests the stock may deliver lower returns compared to other stocks in the same sector or market index. Note: This is not investment advice; please consult a financial advisor before making investment decisions.
Disclaimer
This AI Analyst Stock Report is automatically generated by our AI systems using advanced algorithms and publicly available financial, technical, and market data. While the information provided aims to be accurate and insightful, it is intended for informational purposes only and should not be considered financial advice. Any content created by an AI (Artificial Intelligence) system may contain inaccuracies and/or contain errors. Investing in stocks carries inherent risks, and past performance is not indicative of future results. This report does not account for your personal financial circumstances, objectives, or risk tolerance. Always conduct your own research or consult with a qualified financial advisor before making investment decisions. The analysis and recommendations provided are based on historical and current data and may not fully reflect future market conditions or unexpected developments. Neither the creators of this report nor its affiliated entities guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of the information presented. Use this report at your own discretion and risk.