UnitedHealth Group Inc. (UNH - Free Report) is scheduled to report second-quarter 2017 results on Jul 18, before the opening bell.

Last quarter, UnitedHealth surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 8.72%. Let’s see how things are shaping up for this announcement.

Q2 Flashback

We expect the quarter’s results to show broad-based growth across the enterprise.

Its segment, UnitedHealth Care, is expected to witness an increase in membership across its employer-sponsored, Medicare, Medicaid and international medical benefit offerings. This will be partially offset by a reduction in the number of people served through individual products as the company withdrew from almost all ACA Individual markets.

Results should also show an increase in revenues from its health services segment Optum, driven by higher contribution from subsegments OptumHealth and OptumInsight and OptumRx.

The company’s bottom line will be cushioned by cost-control initiatives and capital management by way of share buyback.

Earnings Whispers

Our proven model does not conclusively show that UnitedHealth is likely to beat on earnings this quarter. That is because a stock needs to have both a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank of #1, 2 or 3 for this to happen. That is not the case here as you will see below.

Zacks ESP: UnitedHealth has an Earnings ESP of 0.00%. This is because the Most Accurate estimate of $2.38 per share is in line with the Zacks Consensus Estimate.You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.

Zacks Rank: UnitedHealth carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) which increases the predictive power of ESP. However, the company's ESP of 0.00% makes surprise prediction difficult.

We caution against Sell-rated stocks (Zacks Rank #4 or 5) going into the earnings announcement, especially when the company is seeing negative estimate revisions.

UnitedHealth Group Incorporated Price and EPS Surprise

UnitedHealth Group Incorporated Price and EPS Surprise | UnitedHealth Group Incorporated Quote

Stocks That Warrant a Look

Here are some companies that you may consider as our model shows that these have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat this quarter:  

Humana Inc. (HUM - Free Report) is expected to report second-quarter 2017 earnings results on Aug 2. The company has an Earnings ESP of +0.98% and a Zacks Rank #2. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Cigna Corp. (CI - Free Report) has an Earnings ESP of +0.81% and a Zacks Rank #2. The company is expected to report second-quarter earnings results on Aug 4.

Universal Health Services, Inc. (UHS - Free Report) has an Earnings ESP of +1.44% and a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). The company is expected to report second-quarter earnings results on Jul 25.