UnitedHealth posts $4B profit in comeback from financial spiral

UnitedHealth Group is gaining steam on a turnaround as it heads into a critical enrollment season for its Medicare Advantage business.

The Eden Prairie-based health care giant reported third quarter results Tuesday that surpassed profit expectations, showing ongoing progress under chief executive Stephen Hemsley toward profitability growth that made UnitedHealth Group a Wall Street darling for decades.

United, the nation’s largest health care company by revenue and the largest U.S. health insurer by enrollment, is a cornerstone of the Twin Cities area economy, but it stumbled badly last year when surprisingly poor financial performance running Medicare Advantage plans and medical clinics drove a 50% stock price decline under the prior CEO.

In early trading Tuesday, the stock was down about 1%.

“Our businesses are improving,” Hemsley told investors during Tuesday’s conference call with stock analysts.

Between July and September, UnitedHealth Group took in $1.2 billion more revenue than analysts expected. Profit beat projections by 55 cents per share.

The results prompted the company to boost its full-year profit outlook. UnitedHealth Group was more profitable than the same period last year, even as third-quarter revenue declined.

The lower revenue stems in part from a strategy over the past year of shedding unprofitable membership in Medicare Advantage plans, which are privatized versions of the federal government’s Medicare program. It covers people age 65 and older and specific younger groups.

The profitability of Medicare Advantage plans is driven by how much the federal government pays it for services and how the plans are structured. Cancelling less-profitable plans may lead to lower net revenue but yield higher profit margins that draw investors.

UnitedHealthcare, the company’s health insurance business, was covering 7.6 million people in Medicare Advantage at the end of September, down from 8.4 million at the end of last year.

Medicare Advantage open enrollment begins Thursday. UnitedHealthcare isn’t yet releasing guidance for membership next year, but division president Bobby Hunter told investors its operations “footprint” in Medicare Advantage will get slightly bigger.

“Now more than 94% of [people eligible] for Medicare have access to one of our plan offerings,” Hunter said. “That’s an expansion.”

Overall, UnitedHealthcare enrollment of 48.3 million across all its insurance offerings at the end of the quarter was down from 50.1 million a year ago.

The decline corresponded with higher profits — earnings from UnitedHealthcare operations were $2.8 billion and the operating margin was 3.3%, compared with $1.8 billion and 2.1% during the same period last year.

It’s been a similar story for United’s medical clinic business, Optum Health, which posted $735 million in operating profits versus $41 million a year ago, even as its revenue fell 10%. The division disclosed clinic closures and layoffs last year.

Optum Health employs or contracts with tens of thousands of health care providers working in more than 2,000 clinics, surgery centers, home health agencies and hospice centers.

The Medicare Advantage line of business and the medical clinics were the primary sources of financial troubles during the first half of 2025 — arguably the most difficult period in UnitedHealth Group’s history.

The span was bracketed by the killing of company executive Brian Thompson as he walked to an investor conference in New York City on Dec. 4, 2024, and Hemsley’s return as CEO just over five months later.

UnitedHealth Group’s value to investors during the period last year fell by roughly 50%, as its stock price dropped from $610 to $308. Before trading Tuesday, the share price still hadn’t fully recovered, but the stock year-to-date is up nearly 15%.

In comments to investors, Hemsley described how the company is using AI to boost efficiency.

During this year’s Medicare Advantage open enrollment, the company is introducing “AI-powered plan recommendations that use a member’s care history and local plan options to help simplify their selection,” he said.

For the third quarter, UnitedHealth Group reported an adjusted profit of $4.1 billion on revenue of $112.7 billion.

On a per-share basis, adjusted earnings came in at $4.69, better than the $4.14 expected by analysts. (Profit adjustments exclude one-time factors.)

The company now expects earnings of at least $20.50 per share for the year, up from its July forecast of $19.50 to $20.00.

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