Centene Corp (NYSE:CNC) stock is rallying Thursday after the insurer confirmed its fiscal 2025 outlook of roughly $1.75 adjusted EPS—beating Wall Street's $1.69 consensus—despite having pulled prior guidance in July over preliminary actuarial data concerns.
The company reported second-quarter sales surged 22% year-over-year to $48.74 billion, comfortably exceeding the consensus estimate of $44.48 billion.
However, this revenue performance was overshadowed by substantial increases in medical costs.
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Centene CEO Sarah London acknowledged the challenging quarter, but added that the firm is “working with urgency and focus” to restore its earnings trajectory.
Citing a Centene executive, Reuters reported that Medicaid results for July and August support an improved trajectory for the back half of the year.
It has been able to refile in states covering 95% of its membership for 2026.
2025 Stock Prediction For Centene
Equity research analysts on and off Wall Street typically use earnings growth and fundamental research as a form of valuation and forecasting. But many in trading turn to technical analysis as a way to form predictive models for share price trajectory.
Some investors look to trends to help forecast where they believe a stock could trade at a certain point in the future. Looking at Centene, an investor could assess a stock's long-term prospects using a moving average and trend line.
If they believe a stock will remain above the moving average, which many feel is a bullish signal, they can extrapolate that trend into the future using a trend line. For Centene, the 200-day moving average sits at $51.83, according to Benzinga Pro, which is above the current price of $34.89. For more on charts and trend lines, see a description here.
Traders believe that when a stock is above its moving average, it is a generally bullish signal, and when it crosses below, it is a more negative signal. Investors could use trend lines to make an educated guess about where a stock could trade at a later date if conditions remain stable.
Price Action: CNC stock is up 12.47% at $35.17 at the last check on Thursday.
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