UnitedHealth (UNH) Stock: What to Know Before Tuesday’s Earnings Report

TLDR

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UnitedHealth (UNH) reports Q3 results Tuesday, October 13, before the market opens.
Analysts expect EPS of $4.15 and revenue of $111.31 billion.
Options traders price in a 7% move in either direction.
Piper Sandler holds a Buy and TD Cowen holds a Hold, and both cut their price targets.
UNH has a Strong Buy consensus on TipRanks, with an average target of $485.

UnitedHealth (UNH) stock sits near $379 as the company gets ready to report third-quarter results. The report lands before the market opens on Tuesday, October 13.

UnitedHealth Group Incorporated, UNH

The stock has climbed about 17% this year and rose roughly 2% in the latest session. Stronger results at Optum and better cost control have helped.

Analysts expect earnings of $4.15 per share, compared with $2.92 a year ago. Revenue is forecast at $111.31 billion.

That is down from $113.20 billion in the prior quarter. It also points to a 2% drop from the same quarter last year.

UnitedHealth is the first in its peer group to report this season. That means investors have no read from other insurers yet.

What the Options Market Is Saying

Options traders are pricing in a 7% move in either direction, or about $27. The number shows the expected size of the move, not which way it goes.

The last four post-earnings moves ranged from a 20% drop to a 7% gain. The average absolute move was about 7%, close to what options imply.

Last quarter, UnitedHealth beat revenue estimates with $112 billion, flat from a year earlier. It also topped EPS expectations.

The company has still missed revenue estimates several times over the past two years. Analysts have mostly held their numbers steady for the past 30 days.

Healthcare providers and services stocks rose about 2% on average over the past month. UnitedHealth’s stock price was unchanged in that time.

Analysts Weigh In

Piper Sandler’s Jessica Tassan kept a Buy rating and cut her target to $463 from $475. Her target implies about 22% upside.

She said Medicare Advantage star ratings show resilience and the stock price does not fully reflect the opportunity. “We would be buyers of the stock into 3Q26,” she wrote.

TD Cowen’s Ryan Langston kept a Hold and lowered his target to $402 from $430. He called consensus estimates for medical costs and earnings “more than achievable.”

Langston sees adjusted EPS of $4.12. He also noted that consensus Optum Health operating earnings of $299 million top management’s guidance of about $150 million.

He warned that lower star ratings could create a $1.5 billion revenue headwind in 2028. Not everyone on the Street is that cautious.

On TipRanks, UNH holds a Strong Buy rating with 17 Buys and four Holds. The average target of $485 implies about 28% upside.

Investors will watch revenue, medical costs and full-year guidance. The report is due Tuesday before the open.