Good health is always in style. That's enabled top-ranked managed health care company Humana, a steady Eddie story, to outperform. On Tuesday, the Relative Strength (RS) Rating for Humana stock jumped into a higher percentile, as it got a lift from 62 to 71. Humana is slated to report First quarter earnings Wednesday.
Humana stock has grown at a steady pace over the years, in good markets and bad. It's up 43% from a 351.20 low at the start of 2022. And it's nearly doubled from a 208.25 low in late March 2020 during the Covid crash. IBD Stock Checkup shows that Humana is the top-ranked company in the managed health care group.
The 71 Relative Strength Rating puts Humana stock in the top 30% of all stocks for price performance over the last 12 months. It's a good but not yet great rating. The best stocks to buy and watch often have an RS Rating above 80 as they launch their biggest climbs. See if Humana can continue to show renewed price strength and hit that benchmark.
Humana Stock Earnings Rating Very Healthy
Among its other ratings, Louisville, Ky.-based Humana boasts a 94 Earnings Per Share Rating, out of 99, showing strong recent quarters and years' profit growth. Humana stock also has a 73 Composite Rating, a combination of IBD's five other key ratings. One yellow flag is its D+ Accumulation/Distribution Rating, a gauge of institutional buying. The D+ rating shows that mutual funds, ETFs and the like are selling more shares than buying. Look for that to improve to at least a C rating.
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Humana stock rose to a fresh all-time high 571.30 in early November. It's mostly traded sideways since then, holding near to the high. It's trying to complete a consolidation with a 571.40 buy point now. See if Humana can clear the breakout price in heavy trading. On Tuesday, the health care provider was down fractionally, to around 500, just below its 50-day and 200-day lines.
Profit Growth Ranged 26% to 42% Last 3 Quarters
Humana posted a 31% earnings jump last quarter, to $1.62 per share. The prior two quarters its EPS rose 26% and then 42%. Revenue in its latest quarter rose 7% to $22.4 billion, easing from 10% growth the prior quarter. Look for the next report on or around April 26.
The company earns the No. 1 rank among its peers in the Medical-Managed Care industry group. Industry behemoth UnitedHealth Group, with a roughly $350 billion run rate, is No. 2 and small-cap, Seattle-based Accolade is No. 3
IBD's proprietary Relative Strength Rating tracks market leadership by using a 1 (worst) to 99 (best) score that identifies how a stock's price action over the last 52 weeks compares to the rest of the market.
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