UnitedHealth Maintains 2024 Earnings Forecast Amid Cyberattack Costs

UnitedHealth Group Inc. announced on Tuesday that it is maintaining its earnings forecast for 2024, which was initially set last fall, despite incurring significant costs from a cyberattack on its Change Healthcare business earlier this year. The attack, which disrupted insurance claims processing nationwide, resulted in the company booking $1.1 billion in costs during the second quarter. However, UnitedHealth reported that it has restored most of the affected Change services. The health care giant serves over 49 million individuals in the United States and reported adjusted earnings of $6.80 per share on total revenue of $98.85 billion. This performance exceeded analysts' expectations, who had predicted earnings of $6.66 per share on $98.73 billion in revenue. Despite a rise in medical costs, which increased by more than 8% to $65.46 billion, UnitedHealth's U.S. medical enrollment grew by 3% in the quarter, although it faced a loss of nearly one million Medicaid customers over the past year. Company executives expressed optimism that Medicaid enrollment will stabilize in the latter half of the year. For the full year, UnitedHealth projects adjusted earnings between $27.50 and $28 per share, factoring in estimated business disruption costs from the cyberattack, which could account for a loss of 60 to 70 cents per share. Following the announcement, UnitedHealth's stock rose over 5% to $543.49, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average also saw an increase of about 1%.