Investors Ready to Believe the Managed-Care Story Again -- WSJ

By Anna Wilde Mathews

Wall Street may be warming back up to the managed-care industry after a rocky 2025.

Centene stock saw a 14% surge as its earnings beat analysts' modest expectations Tuesday morning. Rivals including UnitedHealth Group and Elevance also saw bumps in Tuesday trading.

Investors have been skeptical after insurers suffered a series of financial meltdowns last year, largely fueled by challenges in the Medicare and Medicaid businesses.

But big companies including bellwether UnitedHealth, and now Centene, are saying that better pricing combined with cost-cutting are returning them to a more predictable cadence. Investors were also encouraged by the Trump administration boosting 2027 Medicare payment rates.

It's still early in the year, and not clear if the industry's shares can keep up the momentum.

-- Wednesday, investors will see earnings from Medicare-focused Humana, which has drawn some investor concern after a big enrollment increase this year.

-- Thursday is Cigna, which is largely out of the government-coverage business.

-- Next week comes CVS Health, parent of Aetna.

This item is part of a Wall Street Journal live coverage event. The full stream can be found by searching P/WSJL (WSJ Live Coverage).

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 28, 2026 14:29 ET (18:29 GMT)

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