UnitedHealth continued to 'execute very well' in Q3

UnitedHealth Group Inc (NYSE: UNH) traded up on Friday after the managed healthcare company reported solid results for its fiscal third quarter and raised its guidance for the future.

Key takeaways from UnitedHealth Q3 results

• Earned $5.26 billion versus the year-ago $4.09 billion
• Per-share earnings climbed from $4.28 to $5.55
• Adjusted for one-time items, EPS came in at $5.79
• Revenue jumped 11.8% year-on-year to $80.89 billion
• Consensus was $5.43 a share on $80.52 billion revenue
• Operating costs went up 10.2% to $73.43 billion
• Optum brought in $46.6 billion in revenue – up 17%

Other notable figures in the earnings report

Revenues from products, services, and premiums were up 5.6%, 8.7%, and 13.2%, respectively. Medical care ratio printed at 81.6% versus 82.4% expected, as per the earnings press release.

Total people served domestically increased by 185,000 in the recent quarter. That brough the total for this year to 850,000.

The healthcare stock is still trading near the same price at which it started 2022.

Future guidance and expert’s remarks

For the full financial year, UnitedHealth now forecasts its adjusted per-share earnings to fall between $21.85 and $22.05. Commenting on the earnings report, Brian Sozzi (Yahoo Finance) said:

Wall Street recommends investing in this stock as it has upside to $587 on average – about a 15% increase from here.