markets

J. Edward Moreno4/21/26

UnitedHealth beats Q1 estimates, raises annual outlook

UnitedHealth rose in premarket trading after it reported earnings results that beat Wall Street expectations and raised its full-year guidance.

For the full year 2026, the company now expects:

Annual adjusted earnings per share to be at least $18.25, up from the previous floor it set at $17.75 and higher than the $17.86 analysts polled by FactSet were expecting.

For the first quarter of 2026, the company reported:

Adjusted earnings per share of $7.23, higher than the $6.58 the Street was penciling in.
A medical cost ratio of 83.9%, lower than the 85.5% that was expected. The company said the decrease in spending on medical care was “driven by strong medical cost management and favorable reserve development, partially offset by consistently elevated utilization and unit cost trends.”

The company, which is the first of its peers to report earnings this quarter, was up more than 6% in early action on Tuesday. The stock is down 3.8% from the start of the year through yesterday’s close.

UnitedHealth’s rosy report also lifted some of its peers. Humana, CVS, Elevance Health, Centene, and Molina Healthcare were all up in premarket trading.

The sector has been under pressure in the past year as the cost of providing care, particularly for those on Medicare, has gone up. In the first quarter, UnitedHealth was able to grow its Medicare revenues by 1%, despite having about 1,000 fewer members, by raising the price of its premiums.

“Investors are likely showing signs of relief with this mornings pre-market on UNH,” said David Wagner, head of equity and portfolio manager at Aptus Capital Advisors. “The stock has had a volatile run over its last few earnings reports, largely dictated by surging medical costs in its Medicare Advantage business and regulatory shifts.”

Wagner continued, “While the stock has struggled for much of the past year, it is currently showing signs of a turnaround, or at least stability that investors are appreciating. The highlight of the report for me was the margins.”

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SpaceX gets a wave of bullish ratings from Wall Street analysts

SpaceX received more than a dozen positive analyst calls on Tuesday — including from major Wall Street banks — as they initiate coverage on Elon Musk’s space and AI company.

SpaceX went public on June 12 at a $2.2 trillion valuation, the largest debut in history. While the company hasn’t yet posted a profit, it seems to have convinced Wall Street that it will get there and grow its valuation on the way.

Of the at least 17 analysts that gave a rating on Tuesday, all but one gave it a “buy” or “outperform” rating. MoffettNathanson was "neutral."

The ratings come as SpaceX joined the Nasdaq 100 index, a benchmark tech-heavy basket of companies that underpins millions of portfolios. The inclusion adds built-in demand for the stock from index funds and ETFs.

Still, SpaceX fell more than 5% on Tuesday amid a broader sell-off, and is currently effectively flat from its opening price of $150 a share.

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markets

Paige Oamek6/30/26

Nike sinks to lowest level since 2014 after warning of “challenged” sales environment in Q4 report

Did Nike do it?

Investors had a mixed reaction after the global sports apparel company reported its fourth quarter earnings on Tuesday after the bell. Shares initially rose 5% as Nike beat out Wall Street expectations amid a hefty tariff refund bonus. However, the stock then sank to its lowest level since August 2014 in postmarket trading.

Here are the Q4 numbers:

Revenue of $11.0 billion (estimate: $10.8 billion).
Adjusted earnings per share of $0.20 (estimate: $0.12).

Ahead of this report, Nike warned that results would be flattered by a one-time tariff refund (now estimated at roughly $0.52 per share for the bottom line). That gave the company an extra cushion in snapping its streak of seven quarters of year-over-year profit declines.

Over the past year, the company had been punished by tariffs on imported goods, stagnant consumer spending, and increasing competition from other footwear brands like New Balance, Adidas, and Hoka.

Outgoing CFO Matthew Friend deemed it an “increasingly challenging operating environment, where sell-through remains challenged.”

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