Sifting through countless of stocks in the Health Care Providers & Services industry can be tedious, and sometimes two stocks are just too similar to judge which is the better investment. If you’re on the fence about investing in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated or The Cigna Group because you’re not sure how they measure up, it’s important to compare them on a few factors before making your decision.

Read on to learn how UnitedHealth Group Incorporated and The Cigna Group compare based on key financial metrics to determine which better meets your investment needs.

About UnitedHealth Group Incorporated and The Cigna Group

UnitedHealth Group Incorporated operates as a health care company in the United States and internationally. It operates through four segments: Optum Health, Optum Insight, Optum Rx; and UnitedHealthcare. The Optum Health segment provides care delivery, care management, wellness and consumer engagement, and health financial services with patients, consumers, care delivery systems, providers, employers, payers, and public-sector entities. The Optum Insight segment offers software and information products, advisory consulting arrangements, and managed services outsourcing contracts to hospital systems, physicians, health plans, public entities, life sciences companies and other organizations. The Optum Rx segment provides pharmacy care services and programs, including retail network contracting, home delivery, specialty and community health pharmacy services, infusion, and purchasing and clinical capabilities, as well as develops programs in the areas of step therapy, formulary management, drug adherence, and disease and drug therapy management. The UnitedHealthcare segment offers consumer-oriented health benefit plans and services for national employers, public sector employers, mid-sized employers, small businesses, and individuals; Medicaid plans, including Temporary Assistance to Needy Families; Children’s Health Insurance Programs; Dual SNPs; Long-Term Services and Supports; Aged, Blind and Disabled; and other federal, state, and community health care programs. and health care benefits products and services to state programs caring for the economically disadvantaged, medically underserved, and those without the benefit of employer-funded health care coverage. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated was founded in 1974 and is based in Eden Prairie, Minnesota.

The Cigna Group, together with its subsidiaries, provides insurance and related products and services in the United States. It operates through two segments: Evernorth Health Services and Cigna Healthcare. The Evernorth Health Services segment includes Pharmacy Benefit Services and Specialty and Care Services, offering pharmacy benefit management, drug claim adjudication, retail pharmacy network administration, benefit design consultation, drug utilization review, drug formulary management, pharmacy benefits, home delivery pharmacy, specialty pharmacy, specialty pharmaceutical distribution, and clinical programs for whole-person health outcomes. The Cigna Healthcare segment comprises U.S. Healthcare and International Health, delivering comprehensive medical and coordinated solutions such as employer medical plans, individual and family plans, behavioral health, consumer health engagement, dental, pharmacy management, stop-loss insurance, global health care, and local health care solutions, as well as health care benefits for mobile individuals and employees of multinational organizations. The company offers other operations, including corporate-owned life insurance, reinsurance, and certain run-off and non-strategic businesses. The company distributes its products and services through brokers and consultants; directly to employers, unions and other groups, or individuals; and private and public exchanges. The company was formerly known as Cigna Corporation and changed its name to The Cigna Group in February 2023. The company was founded in 1792 and is headquartered in Bloomfield, Connecticut.

Latest Health Care Providers & Services and UnitedHealth Group Incorporated, The Cigna Group Stock News

As of April 23, 2026, UnitedHealth Group Incorporated had a $322.0 billion market capitalization, compared to the Health Care Providers & Services median of $1.4 million. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated’s stock is up 7.4% in 2026, up 12.1% in the previous five trading days and down 17% in the past year.

Currently, UnitedHealth Group Incorporated’s price-earnings ratio is 26.8. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated’s trailing 12-month revenue is $447.6 billion with a 2.7% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 12.3%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $18.331 per share for the current fiscal year. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated currently has a 2.5% dividend yield.

As of April 23, 2026, The Cigna Group had a $73.8 billion market cap, putting it in the 96th percentile of all stocks. The Cigna Group’s stock is up 1.6% in 2026, up 1.2% in the previous five trading days and down 17.01% in the past year.

Currently, The Cigna Group’s price-earnings ratio is 12.6. The Cigna Group’s trailing 12-month revenue is $274.9 billion with a 2.2% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 10.4%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $30.327 per share for the current fiscal year. The Cigna Group currently has a 2.2% dividend yield.

How We Compare UnitedHealth Group Incorporated and The Cigna Group Stock Grades

Stock evaluation requires access to huge amounts of data and the knowledge and time to sift through it all, make sense of financial ratios, read income statements and analyze recent stock movements. AAII created A+ Investor, a robust data suite that condenses data research in an actionable and customizable way suitable for investors of all knowledge levels, to help investors streamline and work through such data.

AAII’s proprietary stock grades come with A+ Investor. These offer intuitive A‐F grades for each of five key investing factors: value, growth, momentum, earnings estimate revisions and quality. Here, we’ll take a closer look at UnitedHealth Group Incorporated and The Cigna Group’s stock grades to see how they measure up against one another.

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UnitedHealth Group Incorporated and The Cigna Group Stock Value Grades

Company	Ticker	Value
UnitedHealth Group Incorporated	UNH	D
The Cigna Group	CI	A

Successful stock investing involves buying low and selling high, so stock valuation is an important consideration for stock selection.

Buying stocks that are going to go up typically means buying stocks that are undervalued in the first place, although momentum investors may argue that point.

AAII’s A+ Investor Value Grade derives from a stock’s value score. The Value Score is the percentile rank of the average of the percentile ranks of the price-to-sales ratio, price-earnings ratio, enterprise-value-to-EBITDA (EV/EBITDA) ratio, shareholder yield, price-to-book-value ratio and price-to-free-cash-flow ratio. The score is variable, meaning it can consider all six ratios or, should any of the six ratios not be valid, the remaining ratios that are valid. To be assigned a Value Score, stocks must have a valid (non-null) ratio and corresponding ranking for at least two of the six valuation ratios.

Stocks with a Value Score from 81 to 100 are considered deep value, those with a score between 61 and 80 are a good value and so on.

UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a Value Score of 39, which is Expensive. The Cigna Group has a Value Score of 92, which is Deep Value.

The Value Stock Winner: The Cigna Group

As you can clearly see from the Value Grade breakdown above, The Cigna Group is considered to have better value than UnitedHealth Group Incorporated. For investors who focus solely on a company’s valuation, The Cigna Group could be a good stock to add to their portfolio. However, it’s important for investors to analyze multiple factors based on a wide range of metrics before deciding whether to buy.

UnitedHealth Group Incorporated and The Cigna Group’s Quality Grades

Company	Ticker	Quality
UnitedHealth Group Incorporated	UNH	C
The Cigna Group	CI	C

Like the Value Grade, AAII’s A+ Investor Quality Grade comes from the percentile rank of key metrics. Specifically, the Quality Score is the percentile rank of the average of the percentile ranks of return on assets (ROA), return on invested capital (ROIC), gross profit relative to assets, buyback yield, change in total liabilities to assets, accruals, Z double prime bankruptcy risk (Z) score and the F-Score.

The score is variable, meaning it can consider all eight measures or, should any of the eight measures not be valid, the remaining measures that are valid. To be assigned a Quality Score, stocks must have a valid (non-null) measure and corresponding ranking for at least four of the eight quality measures.

The Quality Score is used to assess the underlying “quality” of a particular stock. A higher-quality stock possesses traits associated with upside potential and reduced downside risk. Backtesting of the Quality Grade shows that stocks with higher grades, on average, outperformed stocks with lower grades over the period of 1998 through 2019.

Stocks receive better grades (higher scores) for having higher scores for the quality subcomponents and worse grades (lower scores) for lower scores for the subcomponents.

UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a Quality Score of 54, which is Average. The Cigna Group has a Quality Score of 56, which is Average.

The Quality Stock Winner: No Clear Winner

Neither UnitedHealth Group Incorporated or The Cigna Group has a high enough Quality Grade to be considered a “winner.” Investors who are considering these companies should do additional due diligence and research to see if either could be a good addition to their portfolios. It’s important to look at a wide range of financial metrics in order to determine if UnitedHealth Group Incorporated or The Cigna Group is the better investment when it comes to quality.

UnitedHealth Group Incorporated and The Cigna Group’s Estimate Revisions Grades

Company	Ticker	Earnings Estimate
UnitedHealth Group Incorporated	UNH	B
The Cigna Group	CI	C

Earnings estimate revisions scores consider the magnitude of a company’s earnings surprise in its last two reported fiscal quarters. Often, positive surprises beget further positive surprises‐or at least continued sales growth (the exact opposite is generally true, too).

Estimate revisions offer an indication of what analysts are thinking about the short-term prospects of a firm. Estimate revisions are based on the statistical significance of a firm’s last two quarterly earnings surprises and the percentage change in its consensus estimate for the current fiscal year over the past month and past three months.

UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a Earnings Estimate Score of 61, which is Positive. The Cigna Group has a Earnings Estimate Score of 53, which is Neutral.

The Earnings Estimate Revisions Grade Winner: UnitedHealth Group Incorporated

As you can clearly see from the Earnings Estimate Revisions Grade breakdown above, UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a better Earnings Estimate Revisions Grade than The Cigna Group. For those who are specifically looking for companies with better short-term prospects when compared to other companies in the same industry, UnitedHealth Group Incorporated could be a good stock to invest in. However, it’s important to analyze multiple factors based on a wide range of metrics before deciding whether to buy.

Other UnitedHealth Group Incorporated and The Cigna Group Grades

In addition to Estimate Revisions, Value and Quality, A+ Investor also provides grades for Growth and Momentum.

Momentum grades help uncover stocks experiencing anomalously high rates of return; research finds that stocks with high relative levels of momentum tend to outperform, whereas those with low levels of momentum tend to continue underperforming.

Growth investing builds on the idea that stocks of companies exhibiting strong, consistent and prolonged growth outperform those of slower-growth companies. AAII measures growth through consistency of annual sales growth, five-year sales growth rankings adjusted for extreme levels, and consistency of positive annual cash from operations.

These 2 key factors, when combined with the above, provide a holistic view into a particular stock. Further, by joining A+ Investor you can see whether UnitedHealth Group Incorporated and The Cigna Group pass any of our 60+ stock screens that have outperformed the market since their creation.

So, Which Is the Better Investment, UnitedHealth Group Incorporated or The Cigna Group Stock?

Overall, UnitedHealth Group Incorporated stock has a Value Score of 39, Estimate Revisions Score of 61 and Quality Score of 54.

The Cigna Group stock has a Value Score of 92, Estimate Revisions Score of 53 and Quality Score of 56.

Comparing UnitedHealth Group Incorporated and The Cigna Group’s grades, scores and metrics can act as a solid basis to determine whether they may be a good investment or not. You’ll also want to look at your portfolio’s asset allocation as well as your risk tolerance and financial goals to see if either of these stocks would make a good fit for you. AAII can help you figure out which investments align with your individual needs and preferences.

Investors are encouraged to do their own due diligence and research. In this way, individuals can effectively become managers of their own assets‐without having to rely on others for financial independence. You can count on AAII for timeless articles on financial planning and stock-picking, unbiased research and actionable analysis.

A+ Investor adds to our qualitative teaching with a powerful data suite to help you whittle down investment choices to find stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) or mutual funds that meet your needs.

AAII Disclaimer

We make no representations or warranties that any investor will, or is likely to, achieve profits similar to those shown, because past, hypothetical or simulated performance is not necessarily indicative of future results. Before making an investment decision, you should consider your circumstances and whether the information on our content is applicable to your situation. This information was prepared in good faith, and we accept no liability for any errors or omissions. The full disclaimer can be read here.