Investors are Sick of Health Insurance -- Overheard

By Charley Grant

Talk about a tough crowd.

Health-insurance giant UnitedHealth Group, one of the star performers of the stock market until this year, had its usual round of good news for investors in its first-quarter earnings results. Adjusted net earnings of $3.73 a share grew by 23% from a year earlier and topped analyst estimates, and the company increased its full-year profit forecast.

Investors, however, reacted as though they got a surprise medical bill. Shares fell 4% in Tuesday morning trading. That was the worst earnings-related reaction since a brief selloff in 2015, according to FactSet. But that selloff was in reaction to disappointing guidance, not to a clean report.

UnitedHealth shares are down nearly 10% so far in 2019, after a decade of nearly uninterrupted gains.

Investors can successfully predict future earnings and cash flows, but there is no predicting the mood of Mr. Market.

Write to Charley Grant at charles.grant@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 16, 2019 12:42 ET (16:42 GMT)

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