Cigna vs UnitedHealth
CI 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 CI and UNH compare
UnitedHealth is the larger company, worth 4.7 times as much as Cigna ($366B against $78.5B).
On earnings, Cigna is cheaper: it trades at 13.1× trailing earnings, against 26.2× for UnitedHealth.
Cigna grew revenue faster over the last twelve months (6.8% versus 6.5% for UnitedHealth).
UnitedHealth keeps more of each dollar of sales as profit, with a net margin of 3.1% compared with 2.1% at Cigna.
Both pay dividends: Cigna yields 2.1% and UnitedHealth 2.2%.
Cigna scores higher on the StockData Score (15 against 11 for UnitedHealth), 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 | CI | UNH |
|---|---|---|
| Size and price | ||
| Market cap | $78.5B | $366B |
| Share price | $297.00 | $407.46 |
| Change, 1 year | 9.8% | 20.2% |
| Change, 5 years | 41.1% | −7.4% |
| Beta (5Y) | 0.34 | 0.34 |
| Employees | 68K | 390K |
| StockData Score | ||
| Total score | 15 (better) | 11 |
| Valuation score | 6 (better) | 0 |
| Growth score | 1 | 3 (better) |
| Performance score | 3 (better) | 2 |
| Health score | 2 | 2 |
| Dividend score | 3 | 4 (better) |
| Valuation | ||
| P/E | 13.1× (better) | 26.2× |
| P/S | 0.3× (better) | 0.8× |
| P/B | 1.8× | – |
| EV/EBITDA | 8.1× (better) | 15.9× |
| P/FCF | – | 15.5× |
| PEG | 11.06 | – |
| FCF yield | – | 6.5% |
| Fair value | $384.37 | – |
| Margin of safety | 22.7% | – |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth (TTM) | 6.8% (better) | 6.5% |
| Revenue growth, 5Y average | 11.4% | 11.7% (better) |
| Net income growth (TTM) | – | −33.7% |
| EPS growth (TTM) | −0.04% (better) | −32.7% |
| EPS growth, 5Y average | −0.69% (better) | −3.8% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | 20.7% | 88.6% (better) |
| Operating margin | 3.4% | 4.8% (better) |
| Net margin | 2.1% | 3.1% (better) |
| FCF margin | – | 5.2% |
| Return on equity | 14.1% | – |
| Return on invested capital | 11.4% | – |
| Financial health | ||
| Debt / equity | 0.72 | – |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 1.88 | 1.61 (better) |
| Interest coverage | 7.1× (better) | 5.6× |
| Current ratio | 0.84 (better) | 0.78 |
| Altman Z-score | 2.82 | 3.12 (better) |
| Piotroski F-score | 7 | 7 |
| Dividends and buybacks | ||
| Dividend yield | 2.1% | 2.2% (better) |
| Payout ratio | 27.2% | 57.3% |
| Years of dividend growth | 5 | 16 (better) |
| Dividend growth, 5Y average | 173% (better) | 12.6% |
| Buyback yield | 1.7% (better) | 0.28% |
| Shareholder yield | 3.8% (better) | 2.5% |
| Ownership | ||
| Held by institutions | 89.9% | 87.7% |
| Held by insiders | 0.41% | 0.18% |
| Insider net buying, 12 months | −$66.8M | −$945K (better) |
| Superinvestors holding | 4 | 8 (better) |
| Short interest, % of float | 2.4% | 1.6% |
Go deeper
- CI stock overview
- CI income statement
- CI 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.