Knowing facts before you bet on it

Unitedhealth Group (UNH) is one of the stocks that have recently been observed by Zacks.com visitors. So it could be a good idea to check some of the factors that could influence the short -term performance of the share.

Last month, the shares of this largest US health insurer returned -32.4% compared to the Zacks S&P 500 Composite's +11.3% change. During this time, the Zacks Medical -Mos industry, which Unitedhealth falls, lost 18.1%. The key question now is: What could be the future direction of the stock?

Although media reports or rumors about a significant change in the business prospects of a company generally lead to the fact that its shares lead to trend and an immediate change in price, there are always certain basic factors that ultimately advance the purchase and hate decision.

Here at Zacks we prioritize the evaluation of the change in the projection of the future income of a company above all. This is because we believe that the current value of his future profit current determines the current value for its shares.

Our analysis essentially is based on how the analysts of sales pages that cover the shares revises their profit estimates in order to take into account the latest business trends. If the profit estimates for a company increase, the at the time to be accompanied by the current value for its shares. And if the at the time value of a share to be added is higher than the current market price, investors tend to buy the shares, which means that the price is upwards. For this reason, empirical studies indicate a strong correlation between trends in estimating the profits and the short -term share price movements.

Unitedhealth is expected to make a profit of $ 6.28 per share in the current quarter, which corresponds to a change of -7.7%compared to the previous year. In the last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus estimate has changed -16.8%.

The consensus result estimate of $ 26.36 for the current financial year shows a change of -4.7%compared to the previous year. This estimate has changed in the past 30 days by -12.2%.

For the next financial year, the consensus estimate of $ 30.14 shows a change of +14.4% compared to what Unitedhealth is expected a year ago. Last month the estimate changed -9.9%.

With an impressive external, tested success balance sheet is our proprietary stock assessment tool and the Zacks-rank-rank-a more cozy indicator for the short-term price-performance of a share, since it effectively uses the power of the profit assessment revisions. The size of the recent change in the consensus estimate and three other factors in connection with the profit estimates led to a Zacks rank No. 4 (sale) for Unitedhealth.

The following table shows the development of the company's 12-month consensus EPS EPS estimate:

12-month consensus EPS estimate for UNH _12MonthepScharturl

Although the profit growth of a company is probably the best indicator of its financial health, not much happens if it cannot increase its income. It is almost impossible for a company to increase its income without increasing its sales over long periods of time. It is therefore crucial to know the potential sales growth of a company.

For Unitedhealth, the sales sales for the current quarter of $ 112.31 billion shows a change of +13.6%compared to the previous year. For the current and next financial years, estimates of $ 452.5 billion and 486.64 billion USD +13.1% or +7.5% make changes.

Unitedhealth reported sales of $ 109.58 billion in the last reported quarter, which corresponds to a change of +9.8%compared to the previous year. EPS of $ 7.20 for the same period comparable to USD 6.91 a year ago.

Compared to the Zacks Consensus estimate of 111.13 billion US dollars, the registered income is a surprise of -1.4%. The EPS surprise was -0.96%.

In the last four quarters, Unitedhealth has exceeded the consensus -epseps three times. The company led the consensus sales estimates twice during this period.

Without taking into account the assessment of a share, no investment decision can be efficient. When predicting the future price performance of a share, it is crucial to determine whether the current price correctly reflects the internal value of the underlying business and the company's growth prospects.

During the comparison of the current values of the evaluation advantages of a company, such as price-to-profit (P/E), Price-to-Sales (P/S) and Price-to-Cash-Flow (P/CF), with its own historical values, to determine whether its shares are rather evaluated, overvalued or undervalued, the relative position is comparable to prices for the relative position.

The Zacks Value Style Score (part of the Zacks Style Scores Systems), which pays attention to the grade of stocks from A to F both traditional and unconventional valuation metrics (AA is better than a C; and so on) is rather helpful to identify whether a share is overrated, legally valued or temporarily accommodated.

Unitedhealth is evaluated on this front B, which points out that it is a discount for his colleagues. Click here to display the values of some evaluation metrics that have driven this grade.

The facts discussed here and a lot of other information about Zacks.com could help determine whether it is worth paying attention to the UnitedHealth market or not. However, his Zack's rank # 4 suggests that it affects the wider market below average at short notice.

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Unitedhealth Group Incorporated (UNH): Report on free stock analysis

This article was originally published in Zack's Investment Research (Zacks.com).

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