Unitedhealth Group Incorporated Stock Beneish M Score

UNH Stock  USD 483.70  5.33  1.09%   
This module uses fundamental data of UnitedHealth Group to approximate the value of its Beneish M Score. UnitedHealth Group M Score tells investors if the company management is likely to be manipulating earnings. The score is calculated using eight financial indicators that are adjusted by a specific multiplier. Please note, the M Score is a probabilistic model and cannot detect companies that manipulate their earnings with 100% accuracy. Check out UnitedHealth Group Piotroski F Score and UnitedHealth Group Altman Z Score analysis.
  
As of now, UnitedHealth Group's Long Term Debt is increasing as compared to previous years. The UnitedHealth Group's current Long Term Debt Total is estimated to increase to about 65.8 B, while Short and Long Term Debt is projected to decrease to under 3.9 B. As of now, UnitedHealth Group's Free Cash Flow Yield is decreasing as compared to previous years. The UnitedHealth Group's current Operating Cash Flow Per Share is estimated to increase to 32.89, while Price To Sales Ratio is projected to decrease to 1.17.
At this time, it appears that UnitedHealth Group is an unlikely manipulator. The earnings manipulation may begin if UnitedHealth Group's top management creates an artificial sense of financial success, forcing the stock price to be traded at a high price-earnings multiple than it should be. In general, excessive earnings management by UnitedHealth Group executives may lead to removing some of the operating profits from subsequent periods to inflate earnings in the following periods. This way, the manipulation of UnitedHealth Group's earnings can lead to misrepresentations of actual financial condition, taking the otherwise loyal stakeholders on to the path of questionable ethical practices and plain fraud.
-2.29
Beneish M Score - Unlikely Manipulator
Elasticity of Receivables

1.0

Focus
Asset Quality

0.99

Focus
Expense Coverage

1.0

Focus
Gross Margin Strengs

1.18

Focus
Accruals Factor

1.0

Focus
Depreciation Resistance

1.0

Focus
Net Sales Growth

1.05

Focus
Financial Leverage Condition

1.0

Focus

UnitedHealth Group Beneish M-Score Indicator Trends

The cure to earnings manipulation is the transparency of financial reporting. It will typically remove the temptation of the top executives to inflate earnings (i.e., to promote the idea of 'winning at any cost'). Because a healthy internal audit department can enhance transparency, the board should promote the auditors' access to all the record-keeping systems across the enterprise. For example, if UnitedHealth Group's auditors report directly to the board (not management), the managers will be reluctant to manipulate simply due to the fear of punishment. On the other hand, the auditors will be free to investigate the ledgers properly because they know that the board has their back.
Current ValueLast YearChange From Last Year 10 Year Trend
Net Receivables40.9 B39 B
Sufficiently Up
Slightly volatile
Total Revenue390.2 B371.6 B
Sufficiently Up
Slightly volatile
Total Assets292.3 B278.4 B
Sufficiently Up
Slightly volatile
Total Current Assets82.4 B78.4 B
Sufficiently Up
Slightly volatile
Non Current Assets Total210 B200 B
Sufficiently Up
Slightly volatile
Property Plant Equipment12.2 B11.6 B
Sufficiently Up
Slightly volatile
Depreciation And Amortization4.2 BB
Sufficiently Up
Slightly volatile
Selling General Administrative57.7 B54.9 B
Sufficiently Up
Slightly volatile
Total Current Liabilities104 B99.1 B
Sufficiently Up
Slightly volatile
Non Current Liabilities Total84.5 B80.4 B
Sufficiently Up
Slightly volatile
Short Term Debt5.6 B5.3 B
Sufficiently Up
Slightly volatile
Long Term Debt61.2 B58.3 B
Sufficiently Up
Slightly volatile
Operating Income34 B32.4 B
Sufficiently Up
Slightly volatile
Total Cash From Operating Activities30.5 B29.1 B
Sufficiently Up
Slightly volatile
Short Term Investments4.4 B4.2 B
Sufficiently Up
Slightly volatile
Long Term Investments30.6 B47.6 B
Way Down
Slightly volatile
Gross Profit Margin0.290.2448
Fairly Up
Very volatile

UnitedHealth Group Beneish M-Score Driver Matrix

One of the toughest challenges investors face today is learning how to quickly synthesize historical financial statements and information provided by the company, SEC reporting, and various external parties in order to detect the potential manipulation of earnings. Understanding the correlation between UnitedHealth Group's different financial indicators related to revenue, expenses, operating profit, and net earnings helps investors identify and prioritize their investing strategies towards UnitedHealth Group in a much-optimized way. Analyzing correlations between earnings drivers directly associated with dollar figures is the most effective way to find UnitedHealth Group's degree of accounting gimmicks and manipulations.

About UnitedHealth Group Beneish M Score

M-Score is one of many grading techniques for value stocks. It was developed by Professor M. Daniel Beneish of the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University and published in 1999 under the paper titled The Detection of Earnings Manipulation. The Beneish score is a multi-factor model that utilizes financial identifiers to compile eight variables used to classify whether a company has manipulated its reported earnings. The variables are built from the officially filed financial statements to create a final score call 'M Score.' The score helps to identify companies that are likely to manipulate their profits if they show deteriorating gross margins, operating expenses, and leverage against growing revenue.

Other Operating Expenses

356.23 Billion

As of now, UnitedHealth Group's Other Operating Expenses is increasing as compared to previous years.

UnitedHealth Group Earnings Manipulation Drivers

Although earnings manipulation is typically not the result of intentional misconduct by the c-level executives, it is still a widespread practice by the senior management of public companies such as UnitedHealth Group. It is usually done by a series of misrepresentations of various accounting rules and operating activities across multiple financial cycles. The best way to spot the manipulation is to examine the historical financial statement to find inconsistencies in earning reports to find trends in assets or liabilities that are not sustainable in the future.
201920202021202220232024 (projected)
Net Receivables11.8B12.9B14.2B17.7B39.0B40.9B
Total Revenue240.3B255.6B285.3B322.1B371.6B390.2B
Total Assets173.9B197.3B212.2B245.7B278.4B292.3B
Total Current Assets42.6B53.7B61.8B69.1B78.4B82.4B
Net Debt29.7B26.5B24.6B34.3B42.0B44.1B
Short Term Debt3.9B4.8B3.6B3.1B5.3B5.6B
Long Term Debt36.8B38.6B42.4B54.5B58.3B61.2B
Operating Income19.7B22.4B24.0B28.4B32.4B34.0B
Investments(2.5B)(2.8B)(1.8B)(28.5B)(15.6B)(14.8B)

UnitedHealth Group ESG Sustainability

Some studies have found that companies with high sustainability scores are getting higher valuations than competitors with lower social-engagement activities. While most ESG disclosures are voluntary and do not directly affect the long term financial condition, UnitedHealth Group's sustainability indicators can be used to identify proper investment strategies using environmental, social, and governance scores that are crucial to UnitedHealth Group's managers, analysts, and investors.
Environment Score
Governance Score
Social Score

About UnitedHealth Group Fundamental Analysis

The Macroaxis Fundamental Analysis modules help investors analyze UnitedHealth Group Incorporated's financials across various querterly and yearly statements, indicators and fundamental ratios. We help investors to determine the real value of UnitedHealth Group using virtually all public information available. We use both quantitative as well as qualitative analysis to arrive at the intrinsic value of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated based on its fundamental data. In general, a quantitative approach, as applied to this company, focuses on analyzing financial statements comparatively, whereas a qaualitative method uses data that is important to a company's growth but cannot be measured and presented in a numerical way.
Please read more on our fundamental analysis page.

UnitedHealth Group Investors Sentiment

The influence of UnitedHealth Group's investor sentiment on the probability of its price appreciation or decline could be a good factor in your decision-making process regarding taking a position in UnitedHealth. The overall investor sentiment generally increases the direction of a stock movement in a one-year investment horizon. However, the impact of investor sentiment on the entire stock market does not have solid backing from leading economists and market statisticians.
Investor biases related to UnitedHealth Group's public news can be used to forecast risks associated with an investment in UnitedHealth. The trend in average sentiment can be used to explain how an investor holding UnitedHealth can time the market purely based on public headlines and social activities around UnitedHealth Group Incorporated. Please note that most equities that are difficult to arbitrage are affected by market sentiment the most.
UnitedHealth Group's market sentiment shows the aggregated news analyzed to detect positive and negative mentions from the text and comments. The data is normalized to provide daily scores for UnitedHealth Group's and other traded tickers. The bigger the bubble, the more accurate is the estimated score. Higher bars for a given day show more participation in the average UnitedHealth Group's news discussions. The higher the estimated score, the more favorable is the investor's outlook on UnitedHealth Group.

UnitedHealth Group Implied Volatility

    
  29.87  
UnitedHealth Group's implied volatility exposes the market's sentiment of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated stock's possible movements over time. However, it does not forecast the overall direction of its price. In a nutshell, if UnitedHealth Group's implied volatility is high, the market thinks the stock has potential for high price swings in either direction. On the other hand, the low implied volatility suggests that UnitedHealth Group stock will not fluctuate a lot when UnitedHealth Group's options are near their expiration.
Some investors attempt to determine whether the market's mood is bullish or bearish by monitoring changes in market sentiment. Unlike more traditional methods such as technical analysis, investor sentiment usually refers to the aggregate attitude towards UnitedHealth Group in the overall investment community. So, suppose investors can accurately measure the market's sentiment. In that case, they can use it for their benefit. For example, some tools to gauge market sentiment could be utilized using contrarian indexes, UnitedHealth Group's short interest history, or implied volatility extrapolated from UnitedHealth Group options trading.

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When determining whether UnitedHealth Group offers a strong return on investment in its stock, a comprehensive analysis is essential. The process typically begins with a thorough review of UnitedHealth Group's financial statements, including income statements, balance sheets, and cash flow statements, to assess its financial health. Key financial ratios are used to gauge profitability, efficiency, and growth potential of Unitedhealth Group Incorporated Stock. Outlined below are crucial reports that will aid in making a well-informed decision on Unitedhealth Group Incorporated Stock:

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Is UnitedHealth Group's industry expected to grow? Or is there an opportunity to expand the business' product line in the future? Factors like these will boost the valuation of UnitedHealth Group. If investors know UnitedHealth will grow in the future, the company's valuation will be higher. The financial industry is built on trying to define current growth potential and future valuation accurately. All the valuation information about UnitedHealth Group listed above have to be considered, but the key to understanding future value is determining which factors weigh more heavily than others.
Quarterly Earnings Growth
0.16
Dividend Share
7.52
Earnings Share
16.38
Revenue Per Share
411.257
Quarterly Revenue Growth
0.086
The market value of UnitedHealth Group is measured differently than its book value, which is the value of UnitedHealth that is recorded on the company's balance sheet. Investors also form their own opinion of UnitedHealth Group's value that differs from its market value or its book value, called intrinsic value, which is UnitedHealth Group's true underlying value. Investors use various methods to calculate intrinsic value and buy a stock when its market value falls below its intrinsic value. Because UnitedHealth Group's market value can be influenced by many factors that don't directly affect UnitedHealth Group's underlying business (such as a pandemic or basic market pessimism), market value can vary widely from intrinsic value.
Please note, there is a significant difference between UnitedHealth Group's value and its price as these two are different measures arrived at by different means. Investors typically determine if UnitedHealth Group is a good investment by looking at such factors as earnings, sales, fundamental and technical indicators, competition as well as analyst projections. However, UnitedHealth Group's price is the amount at which it trades on the open market and represents the number that a seller and buyer find agreeable to each party.