UnitedHealth: Margins Are Under Pressure From All Sides

Hunting Alpha
6.67K Followers
(10min)

Summary

  • I am bearish on UnitedHealth due to broad-based gross margin pressures, especially from higher-than-expected insurance utilizations and Medicare Advantage funding shortfalls.
  • Lower-than-usual relative valuations vs peers may be justified given the sharply falling earnings expectations and almost unanimous consensus EPS downgrades.
  • UNH vs SPX 500 is in a strong bearish trend and there are no signs of buyers in the ratio charts.
  • While good opex management has led to EBIT margins holding up so far, I suspect margin pressures in Optum Health and Optum Rx (pharmacy) segments may lead to cracks here.
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Thesis

I am bearish on UnitedHealth (NYSE:UNH) (NEOE:UNH:CA) as I see broad-based profitability pressures ahead:

  1. Higher than expected insurance utilizations across the board can weigh down on gross margins
  2. Although there are some improvements in 2026, Medicare Advantage funding is still

This article was written by

6.67K Followers
I aim to provide alpha-generating investment ideas. I am an independent investor managing my family's portfolio, primarily via a Self Managed Super Fund. You can expect my articles to deliver a clearly structured, evidence-based thesis. But first and foremost, I encourage readers to judge me on my performance.I have a generalist approach as I explore, analyze and invest in any sector so long there is perceived alpha potential vs the S&P500. The typical holding period ranges between a few quarters to multiple years.A bit about how I approach research and coverage of a stock:I build and maintain comprehensive spreadsheets showing historical data on the financials, key metric disclosures, data on the guidance and surprise trends vs consensus estimates, time-series values of the valuations vs peers, data on key coincident or leading indicators of performance and other monitorables. In addition to the company's filings, I also keep tabs on relevant industry news and reports plus other people's coverage of the stock. In some cases, such as during times of a CEO change, I will do a deep dive on a key leader's background and his/her past performance record.I very rarely build DCFs and project financials many years out into the future as I don't think it adds much value. Instead, I find it more useful to assess how a company has delivered and the broad outlook on the 5 key drivers of a DCF valuation: revenues, costs and margins, cash flow conversion, capex and investments and the interest rates (which affect the discount rate/opportunity cost of capital).Associated with VishValue Research

Analyst’s Disclosure:I/we have no stock, option or similar derivative position in any of the companies mentioned, and no plans to initiate any such positions within the next 72 hours. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.

Seeking Alpha's Disclosure: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. Any views or opinions expressed above may not reflect those of Seeking Alpha as a whole. Seeking Alpha is not a licensed securities dealer, broker or US investment adviser or investment bank. Our analysts are third party authors that include both professional investors and individual investors who may not be licensed or certified by any institute or regulatory body.

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