The latest trading session saw UnitedHealth Group (UNH) ending at $461.52, denoting a -1.05% adjustment from its last day's close. The stock fell short of the S&P 500, which registered a loss of 0.5% for the day. Elsewhere, the Dow saw an upswing of 0.08%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq depreciated by 1.21%.

Shares of the largest U.S. health insurer witnessed a loss of 12.41% over the previous month, trailing the performance of the Medical sector with its gain of 2.66% and the S&P 500's loss of 0.47%.

Market participants will be closely following the financial results of UnitedHealth Group in its upcoming release. The company's upcoming EPS is projected at $7.24, signifying a 4.78% increase compared to the same quarter of the previous year. At the same time, our most recent consensus estimate is projecting a revenue of $110.97 billion, reflecting a 11.2% rise from the equivalent quarter last year.

For the entire fiscal year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $29.54 per share and a revenue of $451.19 billion, representing changes of +6.8% and +12.72%, respectively, from the prior year.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for UnitedHealth Group. These latest adjustments often mirror the shifting dynamics of short-term business patterns. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. To capitalize on this, we've crafted the Zacks Rank, a unique model that incorporates these estimate changes and offers a practical rating system.

Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. Over the past month, there's been a 0.65% fall in the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate. Currently, UnitedHealth Group is carrying a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

With respect to valuation, UnitedHealth Group is currently being traded at a Forward P/E ratio of 15.79. This represents a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 15.5.

One should further note that UNH currently holds a PEG ratio of 1.27. 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. As the market closed yesterday, the Medical - HMOs industry was having an average PEG ratio of 1.

The Medical - HMOs industry is part of the Medical sector. Currently, this industry holds a Zacks Industry Rank of 203, positioning it in the bottom 20% of all 250+ industries.

The strength of our individual industry groups is measured by the Zacks Industry Rank, which is calculated based on the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within these groups. 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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UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (UNH) : Free Stock Analysis Report

This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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