Sherwood News

UnitedHealth Group rises after earnings beat, boost to full-year profit guidance

The industry has been reeling amid rising costs of care, particularly for government-sponsored plans.

10/28/25 5:58AM

UnitedHealth rose in premarket trading after it reported earnings results that beat Wall Street expectations, a sign the company may be getting its operations under control after a tumultuous year.

The healthcare giant reported adjusted earnings per share of $2.92, higher than the $2.80 analysts polled by FactSet were expecting. UnitedHealth raised its annual adjusted profit guidance to at least $16.25 per share from the at least $16.00 per share it predicted in July, slightly higher than the $16.21 per share analysts were expecting.

UnitedHealth reported a medical loss ratio of 89.9%, less than the 90.7% the Street was penciling in. UnitedHealth and its peers in insurance have been ravaged by higher-than-expected medical costs, particularly for government-sponsored plans, which have been driven by high drug prices, among other factors.

Stephen Hemsley, CEO of UnitedHealth Group, said the company sees “durable and accelerating growth in 2026 and beyond, and our results this quarter reflect solid execution toward that goal.”

Last week, Molina Healthcare — which specializes in providing government-sponsored plans — reported earnings results that severely missed Wall Street expectations, dragging down some of its peers’ stock prices with it. Elevance Health reported earnings that beat expectations last week but warned that Medicaid plans, which UnitedHealth also provides, will be less profitable in 2026. Cigna, another major health insurer, reports on Thursday.

Beyond sector-wide headwinds, UnitedHealth is also grappling with government investigations into its Medicare Advantage practices. The company disclosed this summer that it is cooperating with the Department of Justice on a probe relating to that side of its business.

Toby Bochan

Market Wrap

41m

Markets cheer surprise gift of cooler CPI amid renewed AI optimism to finish higher

The S&P 500, Nasdaq 100, and Russell 2000 surged on Thursday — perhaps we’ll have a Santa rally after all!

CAMARILLO, CA FEBRUARY 09: A cannabis farm worker de-leafs cann

Trump signs executive order expediting reclassification of marijuana as a less dangerous drug

Rescheduling would lift regulatory pressures that have been weighing on US cannabis operators' margins. Shares of weed companies, many of which don’t sell cannabis in the US, tumbled an hour before the executive order was signed.

J. Edward Moreno3h

Max Knoblauch4h

Rivian climbs as it rolls out a “universal hands-free” update and scores an upgrade from Baird

Shares of EV maker Rivian are on pace for their 10th best day of 2025 on Thursday, following an upgrade from Baird to “buy” from “hold” and the rollout of its new hands-free driving update.

Baird raised its price target on Rivian nearly 79% to $25, writing that “2026 is the year of R2.”

Meanwhile, Rivian says its new hands-free feature will allow drivers to take their hands off the wheel across 3.5 million miles of US and Canadian roads.

Despite referring to it as “universal hands-free” driving, the EV maker says the feature will not stop or slow for traffic lights or stop signs, follow navigation systems, or make turns, and will function only on roads with visible lane lines.

Rivian revealed the update at its AI Day last week, when it also hinted at a robotaxi plan.

Rivian rolls out new 'Universal Hands-Free' driving feature | TechCrunch

Meanwhile, Rivian says its new hands-free feature will allow drivers to take their hands off the wheel across 3.5 million miles of US and Canadian roads.

Rivian revealed the update at its AI Day last week, when it also hinted at a robotaxi plan.

Matt Phillips5h

The stock market loves your rising electricity bill

Utilities with a footprint in the massive PJM Interconnection, the country’s largest power grid, were up Thursday after prices set in a key auction hit a record high of $333.44 per megawatt-day.

Such power providers, including Talen Energy, Constellation Energy, and Vistra, saw tidy gains shortly before midday.

“This auction leaves no doubt that data centers’ demand for electricity continues to far outstrip new supply, and the solution will require concerted action involving PJM, its stakeholders, state and federal partners, and the data center industry itself,” Stu Bresler, set to become PJM’s chief operating officer next month, told Reuters.

As I’ve previously mused, political pushback from high power prices, partially created by the AI boom, could become a constraint on development of such sites. Democrats in the US Senate are now calling for hearings on the issue.

It’s fertile political soil. This morning’s US CPI report for November showed electricity prices up nearly 7% year over year, the highest since the tail end of the postpandemic inflation in April 2023.

Costs on Key US Grid Hit New Record, Testing Affordability

Luke Kawa5h

Micron’s earnings, soft inflation, and OpenAI valuation chatter revive speculative AI trade

The three biggest news events since markets closed yesterday are all helping spur a big bounce-back for the more speculative companies tied to AI:

Micron’s eye-popping Q2 guidance reaffirmed beyond a shadow of a doubt how hot AI demand continues to run in the near term.
While the data is undoubtedly messy, core CPI inflation decelerated by much more than anticipated in November. Lower rates are a clear positive for more marginal companies levered to the AI theme, whose stocks trade with a higher embedded risk of default and whose bonds have also been suggesting more credit risk as of late.
OpenAI reportedly getting its hands on more money (and commanding a higher valuation in the process) provides some semblance of valuation support for these firms and also a better fundamental foundation as well: more cash in CEO Sam Altman’s pockets means more cash he has to make good on commitments to OpenAI’s many suppliers.

Put together, the key news items since Wednesday’s close are producing massive gains for the likes of Bloom Energy, Cipher Mining, POET Technologies, CoreWeave, IREN, and Nebius.