UNITEDHEALTH RAISES 2026 PROFIT GUIDANCE AGAIN

UnitedHealth raised its full-year 2026 adjusted earnings guidance to at least $20.50 per share, up from the $19.50-to-$20.00 range it had set just three months earlier. The insurer's third-quarter medical cost ratio fell to 88.4%, down from 89.9% a year earlier, as pricing changes and cost controls took hold. Quarterly revenue reached $112.7 billion. Shares of $UNH have been battered for over a year by runaway medical costs, and this marks the company's second straight guidance hike this year.