UnitedHealth beats Q1 estimates, raises annual outlook

UnitedHealth rose in premarket trading after it reported earnings results that beat Wall Street expectations and raised its full-year guidance.

For the full year 2026, the company now expects:

• Annual adjusted earnings per share to be at least $18.25, up from the previous floor it set at $17.75 and higher than the $17.86 analysts polled by FactSet were expecting.

For the first quarter of 2026, the company reported:

• Adjusted earnings per share of $7.23, higher than the $6.58 the Street was penciling in.

• A medical cost ratio of 83.9%, lower than the 85.5% that was expected. The company said the decrease in spending on medical care was “driven by strong medical cost management and favorable reserve development, partially offset by consistently elevated utilization and unit cost trends.”

The company, which is the first of its peers to report earnings this quarter, was up more than 6% in early action on Tuesday. The stock is down 3.8% from the start of the year through yesterday’s close.

UnitedHealth’s rosy report also lifted some of its peers. Humana, CVS, Elevance Health, Centene, and Molina Healthcare were all up in premarket trading.

The sector has been under pressure in the past year as the cost of providing care, particularly for those on Medicare, has gone up. In the first quarter, UnitedHealth was able to grow its Medicare revenues by 1%, despite having about 1,000 fewer members, by raising the price of its premiums.

“Investors are likely showing signs of relief with this mornings pre-market on UNH,” said David Wagner, head of equity and portfolio manager at Aptus Capital Advisors. “The stock has had a volatile run over its last few earnings reports, largely dictated by surging medical costs in its Medicare Advantage business and regulatory shifts.”

Wagner continued, “While the stock has struggled for much of the past year, it is currently showing signs of a turnaround, or at least stability that investors are appreciating. The highlight of the report for me was the margins.”