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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.

J. Edward Moreno

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.

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Chipotle beats Q4 estimates, but sinks on underwhelming full-year guidance

Chipotle reported earnings results that beat Wall Street estimates, but gave underwhelming full-year guidance.

For the last three months of 2025, Chipotle reported:

  • Adjusted earnings per share of $0.25, compared to the $0.24 analysts polled by FactSet were expecting.

  • Revenue of $3 billion, a bit higher than the $2.9 billion the Street was penciling in.

  • A comparable-store sales decline of 2.5%, less than the 2.9% decline the Street was expecting.

For the full year in 2026, Chipotle expects:

  • Comparable-store sales to be flat, compared to the 1.7% growth analysts were expecting.

Chipotle has struggled to spark sales over the past year and has previously cited strained consumers as a major headwind. The company fell more than 9% in after-hours trading shortly after the report was released.

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Take-Two raises its net bookings outlook, reaffirms November release for “Grand Theft Auto 6”

“Grand Theft Auto” and “NBA 2K” maker Take-Two reported results for its fiscal third quarter on Tuesday. Its shares climbed about 4% in after-hours trading.

The company posted net bookings, or the amount customers spent on its products, of $1.76 billion, up 28% from the same quarter last year. Wall Street analysts polled by FactSet expected $1.58 billion. In November, Take-Two guided for Q3 net bookings of between $1.55 billion and $1.6 billion.

Take-Two hiked its full-year bookings outlook to between $6.65 billion and $6.7 billion, up from a range of $6.4 billion to $6.5 billion. The new outlook compares to Wall Street’s $6.47 billion estimate. The gaming giant trimmed its full-year net loss guidance to between $369 million and $338 million (prior guidance: between $414 million and $349 million).

In its last quarter, Take-Two pushed back the planned release date of “Grand Theft Auto 6” from May 2026 to November 19, 2026. The company reaffirmed that date in Tuesday’s report. The game’s last trailer came in May 2025.

Shares of Take-Two and other major gaming companies have been sinking since late last week as investors react to early showcases of Google’s Project Genie, which allows users to generate interactive, “playable” worlds with a text or image prompt. As of Tuesday’s close, Take-Two has shed nearly $6 billion in market cap since Project Genie was released.

Analysts have called the market reaction unjustified, saying that the tool doesn’t allow for meaningful interactivity or replay-ability. According to mBank analyst Piotr Poniatowski, Project Genie is — at the moment — essentially a “one-minute-long walking simulator generator.”

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