Why Raymond James Says Wall Street Is Underestimating UnitedHealth’s Earnings Power

22 hours ago 2

Joel South

Wed, April 1, 2026 astatine 9:46 AM CDT 4 min read

  • Raymond James upgraded UnitedHealth (UNH) to Outperform from Market Perform with a $330 terms target, citing greater disbursal upside than the Street expects, peculiarly from Optum Health borderline enlargement and blimpish 2026 guidance that leaves country for net upside.

  • UnitedHealth’s pullback of 47% implicit the past twelvemonth has created a contrarian introduction constituent arsenic the banal reflects maximum skepticism astir outgo pressures that absorption has already begun resetting, with 2026 guidance pointing to operating borderline betterment and EPS maturation to supra $17.75, suggesting the worst of the outgo rhythm is priced in.

  • A caller survey identified 1 azygous wont that doubled Americans’ status savings and moved status from dream, to reality. Read much here.

Raymond James upgraded UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) to Outperform from Market Perform connected Wednesday, mounting a $330 terms target. The steadfast argues that disbursal upside is greater than the Street expects pursuing caller absorption commentary, with peculiar attraction to borderline betterment astatine Optum Health and imaginable upside to net estimates implicit the adjacent fewer years.

With UNH trading adjacent $272 and down 19.22% year-to-date, Raymond James is making a contrarian telephone astatine a infinitesimal of maximum skepticism. Over the past year, shares of UnitedHealth person mislaid much than 48%.

Ticker

Company

Firm

Action

Old Rating

New Rating

Old Target

New Target

UNH

UnitedHealth Group

Raymond James

Upgrade

Market Perform

Outperform

N/A

$330

Raymond James sees the setup arsenic favorable due to the fact that absorption has already done the hard enactment of resetting expectations. The institution is deliberately exiting unprofitable contracts, reducing rank by 2.3 to 2.8 million, and guiding toward operating net exceeding $24 cardinal with a 5.5% operating borderline successful 2026. That is simply a meaningful betterment from 2025's operating income of $18.96 billion.

Read: Data Shows One Habit Doubles American’s Savings And Boosts Retirement

Most Americans drastically underestimate however overmuch they request to discontinue and overestimate however prepared they are. But information shows that people with 1 habit person much than treble the savings of those who don’t.

The Optum Health restructuring is the halfway of the upgrade thesis. Management guided for operating net maturation of astir 9% and borderline enlargement of astir 30 ground points astatine Optum Health successful 2026. Optum enactment confirmed the semipermanent borderline people of 6% to 8% remains intact, with astir 30% of mature value-based attraction patients already performing wrong that people borderline scope oregon above.

Read Entire Article