Weekly Recap: UnitedHealth Group

Last week UnitedHealth (NYSE:UNH) announced the expansion of Optum Labs, a collaborative and innovation research center jointly started by the company’s Optum division and the Mayo Clinic. The four new partner organizations added to the initiative are: Harvard Medical School Department of Health Care Policy, the Medica Research Institute, Merck (NYSE: MRK) and the University of Maryland, Baltimore. ^[1] Optum offers health care services such as pharmacy benefit management, financial management, software and information products and consulting services. It is one of the fastest growing businesses for the company.

Optum Labs has the mission to use innovation to improve the quality and value of patient care through the use of technology, information databases, scientific expertise and knowledge tools. With the addition of these partners, management expects new areas of health care research to be probed. The collaboration already includes partners like the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), American Medical Group Association (AMGA), Boston Scientific (NYSE:BSX), Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

UNH’s stock ended last week about flat at $87. We have a price estimate of $83 for UNH’s stock, valuing the company at approximately $80.5 billion. The company had over $122 billion in revenues in 2013, of which around 25% came from the Optum division. ^[2] In the first two quarters of 2014, the company has reported revenues to the tune of $64 billion.

See Full Analysis For UnitedHealth Group Here

1. Four New Partner Organizations Join Optum Labs Research Collaborative, UnitedHealth Press Release [↩]
2. SEC 10-K Filing [↩]