Centene vs UnitedHealth
CNC and UNH side by side, both in accident and health insurance and medical. Figures are trailing twelve months unless noted, from SEC filings and end-of-day prices.
How CNC and UNH compare
UnitedHealth is the larger company, worth 11 times as much as Centene ($365B against $33.8B).
Centene grew revenue faster over the last twelve months (13.9% versus 6.5% for UnitedHealth).
UnitedHealth keeps more of each dollar of sales as profit, with a net margin of 3.1% compared with −2.5% at Centene.
UnitedHealth pays a dividend yielding 2.2%; Centene does not pay one.
UnitedHealth scores higher on the StockData Score (11 against 6 for Centene), which adds up 30 checks on valuation, growth, past performance, financial health and dividends.
Key numbers
A dot marks the better figure where higher or lower is clearly better.
| Metric | CNC | UNH |
|---|---|---|
| Size and price | ||
| Market cap | $33.8B | $365B |
| Share price | $68.45 | $406.97 |
| Change, 1 year | 83.3% | 14.6% |
| Change, 5 years | −7.7% | −10.7% |
| Beta (5Y) | 0.50 | 0.32 |
| Employees | 61K | 390K |
| StockData Score | ||
| Total score | 6 | 11 (better) |
| Valuation score | 2 (better) | 0 |
| Growth score | 2 | 3 (better) |
| Performance score | 0 | 2 (better) |
| Health score | 2 | 2 |
| Dividend score | 0 | 4 (better) |
| Valuation | ||
| P/E | – | 26.2× |
| P/S | 0.2× (better) | 0.8× |
| P/B | 1.5× | – |
| EV/EBITDA | – | 15.9× |
| P/FCF | 3.8× (better) | 15.5× |
| FCF yield | 26.5% (better) | 6.5% |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth (TTM) | 13.9% (better) | 6.5% |
| Revenue growth, 5Y average | 11.9% (better) | 11.7% |
| Net income growth (TTM) | −348% | −33.7% (better) |
| EPS growth (TTM) | −358% | −32.7% (better) |
| EPS growth, 5Y average | – | −3.8% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | 8.0% | 88.6% (better) |
| Operating margin | −2.8% | 4.8% (better) |
| Net margin | −2.5% | 3.1% (better) |
| FCF margin | 4.4% | 5.2% (better) |
| Return on equity | −20.4% | – |
| Return on invested capital | −22.7% | – |
| Financial health | ||
| Debt / equity | 0.71 | – |
| Net debt / EBITDA | – | 1.61 |
| Interest coverage | −8.6× | 5.6× (better) |
| Current ratio | 1.15 (better) | 0.78 |
| Altman Z-score | 2.83 | 3.12 (better) |
| Piotroski F-score | 4 | 7 (better) |
| Dividends and buybacks | ||
| Dividend yield | – | 2.2% |
| Payout ratio | – | 57.3% |
| Years of dividend growth | – | 16 |
| Dividend growth, 5Y average | – | 12.6% |
| Buyback yield | −0.01% | 0.28% (better) |
| Shareholder yield | −0.01% | 2.5% (better) |
| Ownership | ||
| Held by institutions | 98.8% | 87.7% |
| Held by insiders | 0.79% | 0.18% |
| Insider net buying, 12 months | −$14.6M | −$945K (better) |
| Superinvestors holding | 3 | 8 (better) |
| Short interest, % of float | 2.1% | 1.8% |
Go deeper
- CNC stock overview
- CNC income statement
- CNC valuation and score
- UNH stock overview
- UNH income statement
- UNH valuation and score
Other comparisons
For information only, not investment advice. Check the source filings before relying on any figure.