UNH vs CNC Comparison: AI Score, Valuation, Performance and Upside
Compare UnitedHealth's scale across commercial, Medicare, and Optum services against Centene's concentrated Medicaid managed care business and its margin pressures.
Use this UnitedHealth vs Centene comparison to evaluate the key differences across valuation, growth, profitability, and risk before making an investment decision.
UNH holds the edge across 3 of 5 key metrics in this comparison. CNC leads on both 1-year return (+95.59%) and forward P/E quality (12.19x vs 17.96x for UNH), a relatively favorable combination of momentum and valuation. On fundamentals, CNC is growing revenue faster (4.60%), while UNH maintains the higher operating margin (5.82%) — a classic growth-versus-profitability split. Analyst consensus implies meaningfully more upside for UNH (+14.36%) than for CNC (+10.68%).
Human Wall Street analysts' price targets, typically implying a ~12-month view — a separate signal from this site's own AI Prediction Signal further down the page, which is a 5-/30-day machine-learning forecast based on price history alone.
| Metric | UNH | CNC |
|---|---|---|
| AI scorei | 53.5 | 46.7 |
| AI ranki | #322 | #838 |
| Latest closei | $404.44 | $67.48 |
| 1M returni | +8.75% | +7.13% |
| 3M returni | -0.76% | +5.32% |
| 6M returni | +11.15% | +27.37% |
| 1Y returni | +21.17% | +95.59% |
How much would $10,000 be worth today if invested at the start of each period, with all dividends reinvested?
| Period | UNH | CNC |
|---|---|---|
| 1Y ago | $12.23K (+22.3%) started 2025-11-04 | $18.69K (+86.9%) started 2025-11-04 |
| 5Y ago | $9.83K (-1.7%) started 2021-11-05 | $9.1K (-9.0%) started 2021-11-05 |
| 10Y ago | $37.01K (+270.1%) started 2016-11-07 | $20.69K (+106.9%) started 2016-11-07 |
Hypothetical — past performance does not guarantee future results.
| Metric | UNH | CNC |
|---|---|---|
| Market capi | $375.28B | $31.99B |
| Trailing P/Ei | 26.89 | 9.06 |
| Forward P/Ei | 17.96 | 12.19 |
| Price/Salesi | 0.67 | N/A |
| EV/Revenuei | 0.94 | 0.12 |
| Analyst targeti | $478.12 | $71.67 |
| Target upsidei | +14.36% | +10.68% |
| Metric | UNH | CNC |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue growthi | -0.40% | 4.60% |
| Earnings growthi | 75.90% | 18.30% |
| EPS growthi | +75.90% | +18.30% |
| FCF margini | +5.89% | +5.35% |
| Operating margini | 5.82% | 3.76% |
| Profit margini | 3.53% | -2.83% |
| ROIC proxyi | 15.77% | -20.36% |
| Return on equityi | 15.77% | -20.36% |
| Dividend yieldi | 2.22% | N/A |
| Payout ratioi | 57.56% | 0.00% |
| Dividend growth streaki | No increase yet | N/A |
| Betai | 0.61 | 1.10 |
| Debt/equityi | 70.43 | 71.08 |
| Current ratioi | 0.74 | 1.15 |
| Quick ratioi | 0.42 | 1.11 |
Over the past year, UNH and CNC have moved moderately in the same direction (correlation of 0.51), based on daily returns.
Lower drawdown and smaller single-period drops generally indicate a smoother ride, though they do not guarantee lower future risk.
| Period | Metric | UNH | CNC |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1Y | Growthi | +22.25% | +86.87% |
| CAGRi | +22.28% | +87.03% | |
| Volatilityi | 34.69% | 45.10% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.64 | 1.54 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 0.87 | 2.28 | |
| Max drawdowni | 27.29% | 32.73% | |
| Current drawdowni | 7.31% | 5.28% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 8.29% | 6.94% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 11.21% | 10.47% | |
| Max daily dropi | 19.61% | 15.97% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 19.46% | 21.08% | |
| 5Y | Growthi | -6.65% | -9.02% |
| CAGRi | -1.37% | -1.87% | |
| Volatilityi | 32.20% | 39.90% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | -0.02 | 0.06 | |
| Sortino ratioi | -0.02 | 0.07 | |
| Max drawdowni | 61.66% | 74.07% | |
| Current drawdowni | 34.79% | 30.59% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 19.03% | 30.55% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 26.26% | 35.68% | |
| Max daily dropi | 22.38% | 40.37% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 29.05% | 41.59% | |
| 10Y | Growthi | +223.51% | +106.93% |
| CAGRi | +12.47% | +7.55% | |
| Volatilityi | 30.39% | 38.68% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.40 | 0.27 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 0.54 | 0.37 | |
| Max drawdowni | 61.66% | 74.07% | |
| Current drawdowni | 34.79% | 30.59% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 12.10% | 21.16% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 19.35% | 27.51% | |
| Max daily dropi | 22.38% | 40.37% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 29.05% | 41.59% |
| Category | UNH | CNC |
|---|---|---|
| Company | UNH | CNC |
| Sector | Healthcare | Healthcare |
| Industry | Healthcare Plans | Healthcare Plans |
| Core business | UnitedHealth Group Incorporated operates as a health care company in the United States and internationally. | Centene Corporation operates as a managed care company that provides programs and services to under-insured families, and commercial organizations in the United States. |
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