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UNH · Forward model · Optum Insight · Bear case

What has to happen in Optum Insight

Model as of

This page changes Optum Insight inside the complete UNH model. Every other vertical, corporate programme and valuation assumption stays in the selected portfolio case.

UNH forward model
Horizon
Consolidated fair value $284.46 all other verticals held in this portfolio case
Final-quarter revenue $6.20B 5% of company revenue
Explicit segment contribution $21.87B EBITDA less segment capex, before corporate items

Membership attrition does not stop at 46 million and commercial cost trend keeps rising, so the margin recovery is paid for out of a shrinking revenue base for longer than one year and Optum Health's fourth quarter turns negative again. Revenue is tilted down 0.35% a quarter across every line, each segment gives back 0.5-1.2pp of EBITDA margin, and the exit strikes at 10.5x.

Optum Insight

Basis quarter$5.40B
Final quarter$6.20B
Implied CAGR+3%
Final revenue mix5%

Technology, analytics and revenue-cycle services sold to payers and providers on multi-year contracts, plus Optum Financial and Optum Bank since 1 January 2026. Revenue is contract backlog converting into recognised revenue - but the company stopped publishing backlog in 2026, and no backlog-to-revenue conversion rate has ever been disclosed, so a sequential growth rate is the honest driver rather than a manufactured capacity model.

Last four quarters
2025 Q3 $5.32B Reported
2025 Q4 $5.46B Reported
2026 Q1 $5.12B Reported
2026 Q2 $5.40B Reported
Revenue-cycle managementPayer and provider technologyAI-enabled coding and prior-authorisation toolsOptum Financial / Optum Bank (from 1 January 2026)Alegeus (from 2 July 2026, not modelled)
Sequential growth +0.6%/qtr decaying toward +1.4% 0.6% a quarter holds 2H26 near $10.9B against the ~$10.5B the January floor implies, before any Alegeus contribution.
Optum Insight

Latest: $6.20B (2031Q2E)

Period Value
2023Q2 $4.67B
2023Q3 $4.98B
2023Q4 $4.79B
2024Q1 $4.50B
2024Q2 $4.54B
2024Q3 $4.93B
2024Q4 $4.78B
2025Q1 $5.03B
2025Q2 $5.23B
2025Q3 $5.32B
2025Q4 $5.46B
2026Q1 $5.12B
2026Q2 $5.40B
2026Q3E $5.42B
2026Q4E $5.43B
2027Q1E $5.45B
2027Q2E $5.48B
2027Q3E $5.51B
2027Q4E $5.54B
2028Q1E $5.57B
2028Q2E $5.61B
2028Q3E $5.65B
2028Q4E $5.69B
2029Q1E $5.74B
2029Q2E $5.78B
2029Q3E $5.83B
2029Q4E $5.88B
2030Q1E $5.93B
2030Q2E $5.98B
2030Q3E $6.04B
2030Q4E $6.09B
2031Q1E $6.15B
2031Q2E $6.20B

Assumptions & reasoning

  • 24.13% is the guided full-year 2026 operating margin - the 16 July raise to $4,925M of operating earnings on the $21,000M revenue floor, 23.45% - plus 0.68pp of pro-rata D&A. The pro-rata allocation understates this segment specifically: Optum Insight carries most of the group's acquired intangibles, and group intangible amortisation alone is guided at about $1,345M for 2026.
  • Alegeus closed on 2 July 2026, two days into the first projected quarter, and no purchase price or revenue contribution has been disclosed. It is deliberately left out of the driver rather than guessed at, so this line is understated by an unknown amount from 2026 Q3 onward. Revisit at the 2026 Q3 print.
  • Contract revenue backlog was $31.1 billion at 31 December 2025 and was dropped from the Optum Performance Metrics table in both 2026 releases. It was rejected as a capacity driver because using it would require inventing a conversion rate the company has never published.
  • The 2023-2024 quarters predate the Optum Financial realignment and therefore exclude Optum Bank: FY2024 recast revenue is $20,356M against $18,757M as reported, so those quarters sit roughly 8-9% below the 2026 basis. UnitedHealth published no recast quarterly figures before 2025 Q1.
  • Left aseasonal: the 4.5% measured amplitude sits inside a 5.4% Q4 window spread, and what looks like a second-half lift is contract timing over a cyberattack-distorted 2024.
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