Investors are Sick of Health Insurance -- Overheard
April 16 2019 - 12:57PM
Dow Jones News
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)
Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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