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Health
Stealth Stake Sales Helped UnitedHealth Beat Wall Street Targets
The health giant included gains from asset sales in its adjusted earnings — a move that’s permissible but now has some analysts looking more closely at profits.
Until this year, UnitedHealth Group Inc. had managed to pull off an impressive feat: more than 60 consecutive quarters of earnings that beat Wall Street estimates.
As the end of last year approached, that streak was getting harder to maintain. Ballooning medical costs and stricter government payment policies were eroding the health conglomerate’s profit margin.