Shares in UnitedHealth Group were trending up Tuesday morning after the healthcare giant revealed a positive outlook for its performance in the Medicare Advantage (MA) star ratings next year.
The company said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that, based on a preliminary review of ratings data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, about 78% of its members will be in plans earning four stars or higher in the 2026 plan year.
UnitedHealth said in its filing that the ratio "is consistent with our expectations and in line with historical performance." The company also noted that the data have not been finalized and are still being evaluated.
The document follows a Monday filing in which the company reaffirmed its financial projections for 2025, which were updated in July as part of its second-quarter earnings release. UnitedHealth Group expects at least $16 in earnings per share and between $445.5 billion and $448 billion in revenue.
UnitedHealth's stock price was up by more than 3% in early trading following the filing's release. The company said it will be meeting with investors and analysts through Wednesday, and, while the main focus of those meetings is its outlook, they "may also include discussion of the Company's strategy, market positions and recent results, as previously disclosed."
Shares in CVS Health also rebounded from a slight drop late the day before after reports surfaced that executives did not provide details about stars performance in investor meetings. The company's top brass also "offered no financial guidance," per Bloomberg.
UnitedHealth and CVS represent two of the three largest health plans in the MA market, with UnitedHealthcare as the largest and Aetna as third. Humana is the second-largest MA plan by membership.
Both have had mixed results of late in terms of stars performance, with UnitedHealth being one of the bigger losers in the 2025 analysis. Aetna, meanwhile, bounced back from disastrous results in 2023's star ratings.
These scores are critical to calculating quality bonus payments for insurers, making it essential for most members to be enrolled in plans that have high star ratings.