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Health insurer UnitedHealth (UNH) is sinking 4% today after the company reported lower-than-expected fourth-quarter revenue this morning. Moreover, the company's medical costs rose significantly faster than the premiums which it received.
More About UNH's Q4 Results
The company's Q4 sales climbed 6.4% versus the same period a year earlier to $100.8 billion, but that was below analysts' average estimate of $101.76 billion. Additionally, the value of the premiums collected by UNH rose 4.5% year-over-year to $74.5 billion, but its medical expenditures surged 7.7% YOY to $67.04 billion. If the latter trend continues, the company's profit growth could sharply decelerate in future quarters.
Photo by martha-dominguez-de-gouveia on Unsplash
However, in Q4 UNH's adjusted earnings per share jumped 10.6% versus the same period a year earlier to $6.81. That was 9 cents above analysts' mean estimate.
Also importantly, the firm reiterated its previous 2025 EPS guidance of $29.50 to $30.
A Top Performer for UNH Could Be at Risk
The revenue of UNH's pharmacy benefits manager, OptumRx, jumped about 15% YOY in Q4 to $35.8 billion.
However, last month President-elect Trump called PBMs "“the horrible middleman that makes more money than the drug companies, and they don’t do anything.” And Trump said he intends to "knock out" the PBMs.
Consequently, one of UNH's top-performing businesses could be at risk in the coming quarters and years.
While we acknowledge the potential of UNH, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter time frame. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than UNH but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.