Centene Corp (CNC) is slightly undervalued and Unitedhealth Group Inc (UNH) is slightly undervalued.
Against our estimates of intrinsic value, CNC trades at the wider discount: a margin of safety of +20%, against +15% for UNH.
Values as of the 22 Sept 2026 close.
Its through-the-cycle earnings (2.2% median margin), capitalised at 8.5% with no growth, values the shares at $78.72; the price of $63.30 is 20% below that value.
Leak Score 34/100 on 8 of 12 signals
Discounting its cash flows at 8.4% (average of 3 methods) values the shares at $440.71; the price of $372.95 is 15% below that value, and 78% of that value comes from beyond year five.
Leak Score 54/100 on 10 of 12 signals
| Metric | CNC | UNH |
|---|---|---|
| Verdict | Slightly undervalued | Slightly undervalued |
| Price | $63.30 | $372.95 |
| Intrinsic value | $78.72 | $440.71 |
| Margin of safety | +20% | +15% |
| Leak Score | 34/100 (8/12) | 54/100 (10/12) |
| Market cap | $31.3B | $334.8B |
| Revenue growth, 5 years | 11.9% | 11.7% |
| Operating margin | 0.8% | 4.8% |
| Net margin | -2.5% | 3.1% |
| Return on equity | -20.4% | 14.6% |
| Debt to equity | 0.71 | 0.74 |
| P/E | — | 24.0x |
| Forward P/E | 11.9x | 16.6x |
| P/B | 1.4x | 3.4x |
| Dividend yield | — | 2.4% |