UnitedHealth Group Inc (NYSE:UNH) stock was up today following the release of its earnings report for the fourth quarter of 2017.
During the fourth quarter of 2017, UnitedHealth Group Inc reported earnings per share of $2.59. This is an increase over its earnings per share of $2.11 from the same time last year. It was also a boon to UNH stock by beating out Wall Street’s earnings per share estimate of $2.52 for the quarter.
UnitedHealth Group Inc reported net earnings of $3.72 billion in the fourth quarter of the year. This is better than its net earnings of $1.71 billion that was reported in the same period of the year prior.
Revenue of $52.06 billion for the fourth quarter of 2017 was also good news for UNH stock. The healthcare company reported revenue of $47.54 billion in the same quarter of the previous year. Analysts were looking for revenue of $51.51 billion during the period.
For the full year of 2017, UnitedHealth Group Inc reported earnings per share of $10.07 on revenue of $201.16 billion. This has it beating out analysts’ earnings per share and revenue estimates of $10.00 and $200.62 billion for the period. Earnings per share and revenue from 2016 were $8.05 and $184.84 billion.
UnitedHealth Group Inc also updated its outlook for 2018 to take into account for The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. The company says that it is now expecting earnings per share for the year to range from $12.30 to $12.60. Wall Street is estimating earnings per share of $11.47 for the full year of 2018.
UNH stock was up 2% as of Tuesday morning.
As of this writing, William White did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.
