The Quarter in Brief
UnitedHealth Group reported its third quarter of 2026, the three months ended September 30, before the market opened on October 13. Revenue was $112.69 billion, down 0.4% from a year earlier. Net profit was $4.11 billion, up 75%, and earnings per share were $4.56, against $2.59. Adjusted earnings per share, the company's measure that excludes intangible amortization, net portfolio divestitures and South American impacts, and restructuring and other items, were $4.69, against $2.92.
Both figures were above expectations: analysts had expected about $4.14 of adjusted earnings a share and about $111.31 billion of revenue, according to Financial Modeling Prep's consensus. What made the quarter different was the cost of care. The medical care ratio, the share of premium revenue paid out on members' medical bills, fell to 88.4% from 89.9% a year earlier. On $87 billion of premiums, that fall is worth about $1.3 billion, more than half the $2.2 billion rise in earnings from operations, by my arithmetic.