UnitedHealth Group Q1 2026 Earnings: Profits Stabilize, Insurer Raises Full-Year Outlook
UnitedHealth reported $111.7 billion in quarterly revenue and slightly higher per-share profit than a year earlier, while improving cost control and raising its full-year outlook.
| Q1 2026 | Reported |
|---|---|
| EPS | $6.90 |
| Revenue | $111.72B |
Figures as reported by the company to the SEC for the quarter ended March 31, 2026. Analyst estimates are not part of a filing, so no comparison to expectations is shown.
Key takeaways
- UnitedHealth’s per-share profit ticked up slightly from a year earlier. The company also highlighted a separate “adjusted” earnings figure of $7.23 per share for the quarter, a measure that strips out certain one-time items and is the number management tends to emphasize.
- The medical cost ratio — the share of premium dollars paid out for members’ medical claims — improved to 83.9% from 84.8% a year earlier, meaning the company kept a larger slice of premium revenue as profit. Management pointed to this as evidence that cost-control efforts are taking hold.
- UnitedHealth raised its full-year 2026 adjusted profit outlook to more than $18.25 per share, up from the more-than-$17.75 forecast it had given previously, citing improving cost management.
- CEO Andrew Witty called it “a solid quarter across all segments,” saying the discipline at the UnitedHealthcare insurance business is “rounding back into place” and that the Optum Health division is “gaining traction” after a difficult stretch.
- Not every part of the business improved: operating income fell at OptumHealth, the unit that manages patient care, as it spent more on medical costs and investment and signed up fewer patients for its coordinated-care plans.
- The company generated $8.9 billion in cash from operations during the quarter, roughly 1.4 times its net income — a sign the reported profit is backed by real cash coming in, not just accounting gains.
- Looking at the trailing 12 months, profit margins remain thin (a net profit margin of about 3%), which is typical for health insurers, and per-share earnings on that longer view are still down sharply from a year ago — a reminder the company is still working through the effects of a rough 2025 even as this quarter showed improvement.
- Return on equity over the past year was about 14%, a measure of how much profit the company generates relative to shareholders’ invested capital.
Q1 2026 in context
| Metric | Mar 2026 | Mar 2025 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $111.7B | $109.6B | +2.0% |
| Net income | $6.3B | $6.3B | -0.2% |
| Free cash flow | $8.1B | $4.6B | +78.8% |
| Diluted EPS | $6.90 | $6.85 | +0.7% |
| Gross margin | 88.5% | 88.7% | -0.2 pts |
| Operating margin | 8.0% | 8.3% | -0.3 pts |
| Net margin | 5.6% | 5.7% | -0.1 pts |
Figures for the quarter ended Mar 2026 and the quarter ended Mar 2025, as reported to the SEC.
Each company's quarter ending in calendar Q1 '26, as reported to the SEC. A peer that reported no revenue figure for that quarter is left out.
How the stock took it
UnitedHealth Group Incorporated closed at $370.75 on May 4, 2026, the last session before the report, and at $367.28 on May 6, 2026, the first session after it — -0.9% across the report.
| Earlier report | Close before | Close after | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 28, 2025 | $365.98 | $355.26 | -2.9% |
| Aug 11, 2025 | $250.89 | $261.57 | +4.3% |
Closes from the market's daily record. Each figure spans the report date — from the last session that closed before it to the first that closed after — because a company may report before the open or after the close.
Sources: company report · earnings call · Fierce Healthcare