Why Shares of UnitedHealth Group Are Up Friday

Shares of UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH), the nation's largest private medical insurer, were up more than 6.6% as of 11 a.m. ET on Friday after the company reported second-quarter earnings. The healthcare stock is still down than 10% so far this year, thanks to the company saying in June that it was seeing increased costs due to a rise in nonessential surgeries. Many of those surgeries had been put off during the COVID-19 pandemic.

UnitedHealth Group reported second-quarter revenue of $92.9 billion, up 16% year over year. While its medical care ratio, a metric of company costs, rose from 82.2% to 83.2%, earnings per share (EPS) climbed 8.9% over the same period last year, to $5.82. 

UnitedHealthcare, the company's insurance segment, reported revenue of $70.2 billion, up 13% over the same period last year, thanks to a greater number of people served. The Optum health services segment grew even faster with revenue of $56.3 billion, up 25% year over year. While margins for Optum fell to 6.6%, compared to 7.3% in the same period last year, the segment increased revenue per customer by 33% and added more than 900,000 patients.

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Source Fool.com