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☆ UnitedHealth stock jumps after earnings top estimates despite rising medical costs
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-14 | by ( Annika Kim Constantino | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

UnitedHealth Group' s stock price jumped Friday after the health-care conglomerate reported second-quarter revenue and adjusted earnings that topped Wall Street's expectations despite rising medical costs. UnitedHealth Group is the biggest health-care company in the U.S. by market cap and revenue, and is even bigger than the nation's largest banks. Given its size, UnitedHealth Group is considered a bellwether for the broader health insurance sector. UnitedHealth Care said that was driven by the previously noted uptick in elective surgeries and outpatient care activity, primarily among seniors. But UnitedHealth Group executives indicated that the trend may be reversing.

Persons: UnitedHealth, –, John Rex, Rex, Goldman Sachs Organizations: UnitedHealth, Refinitiv, Healthcare, Analysts, Goldman, Rex . Insurance Locations: Minnesota, U.S

☆ Mark Cuban says healthcare has to have more of a 'Netflix model'
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( Vishal Persaud | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Mark Cuban recently appeared on the a16z podcast "Bio Eats World" to talk about healthcare. Cuban believes healthcare systems need to adopt more of a "Netflix model" to "truly work." Mark Cuban has been disrupting healthcare with his low-cost online pharmacy, but there are other areas of the industry that can be improved upon too, he believes. Cuban believes that this model, in some ways, can also be applied to a local hospital or healthcare system. "If we're going to change healthcare," Cuban said.

Persons: Mark Cuban, Vijay Pande, Andreessen Organizations: Netflix, Dallas Mavericks, Cuban, Plus Locations: Cuban

☆ How UnitedHealth Group grew bigger than the nation's biggest banks
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-20 | by ( Charlotte Morabito | In Charlottemorabito | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

UnitedHealth Group has the highest price per share of any company on the Dow Jones Industrial Average and it's the tenth heaviest-weighted stock on the S&P 500. In fact, not only is UnitedHealth the biggest health-care conglomerate in the United States based on market cap and revenue, it's even bigger than JPMorgan Chase, the nation's largest bank. "If I had to pick one stock, only one stock to buy, I'd buy United[Health]," said Ana Gupte, principal at AG Health Advisors. "UnitedHealth Group is committed to improving the health system for everyone, advancing evidence-based practice and aligning incentives across the system to ensure people get the right care at the right time in the right place," UnitedHealth Group told CNBC. Watch the video above to learn how UnitedHealth Group grew so big and what that means for the U.S. health-care system.

☆ Elizabeth Holmes said she still believes Theranos could have revolutionized healthcare and is working on new inventions: 'I still feel the same calling to it'
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-07 | by ( Aaron Mcdade | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Elizabeth Holmes told The New York Times she still believes Theranos could have worked. Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes said she still believes her fallen company could have changed the modern healthcare industry if it didn't attract so much attention so quickly. "I still dream about being able to contribute in that space," Holmes told the Times. She told the Times that she plans to continue working on healthcare innovations, including new ideas for COVID-19 testing, during her time in prison. Chozick spoke to Holmes, Evans, as well as Holmes' family and friends, who shared the writer's impression that Holmes appears to believe the things she says.

☆ 6 startups that have raised $100 million or more in 2023 to change healthcare
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( Yeji Jesse Lee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The healthcare-staffing startup ShiftKey raised $300 million in a round led by its majority investor Lorient Capital. The clinical-trials-tech startup Paradigm raised a $203 million Series A round led by Arch Venture Partners and General Catalyst. The healthcare-staffing startup ShiftMed raised a $200 million round led by Panoramic Ventures. raised a $200 million round led by Panoramic Ventures. Vytalize Health, a startup that helps doctors provide value-based care, raised $100 million from Enhanced Healthcare Partners, Monroe Capital, and North Coast Ventures.

☆ Spooked dealmakers scurry back into their foxholes
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Jeffrey Goldfarb | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +8 min

NEW YORK, March 23 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Jonathan Kanter, a lawyer by training, has become something of a magician. Pay closer attention, however, and Kanter is methodically rewriting a decades-old regulatory playbook. Last year, these breakup charges reached their highest level in a decade, at an average 4.5% of deal prices. The Department of Agriculture partnered with the DOJ on the case, another feature of Kanter’s plan of attack. As legal weaknesses emerge, dealmakers should be in position to better structure transactions and defend themselves at trial.

JetBlue will face "an uphill battle" as it fights the government," said Diana Moss, president of the American Antitrust Institute. "If I'm JetBlue, that's where I focus right now, developing that divestiture offer and lining up a buyer to 'litigate the fix,'" said Dryden. Whatever arguments JetBlue uses, a court fight could last six to eight months and cost tens of millions of dollars in attorney fees, legal experts said. Bill Baer, head of the Justice Department's antitrust division under former President Barack Obama, said the government's complaint "shows that there is meaningful competition between Spirit and JetBlue." "JetBlue brags about the 'JetBlue effect,' where they enter a market and fares tend to go down," he said.

☆ Justice Department sues to block JetBlue’s acquisition of Spirit Airlines
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( Leslie Josephs | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

The Justice Department on Tuesday sued to block JetBlue Airways ' $3.8 billion proposed takeover of budget carrier Spirit Airlines , the Biden administration's latest attempt to prevent industry consolidation. Spirit Airlines agreed to sell itself to JetBlue last summer after a long battle for the carrier between JetBlue and Frontier Airlines . A JetBlue-Spirit combination would be the first major U.S. airline merger since Alaska Airlines' takeover of Virgin America in 2016. The Justice Department at the time required Alaska to scale back its code share with American Airlines to clear the deal. Separately, JetBlue is awaiting a ruling on its Northeast partnership with American Airlines, which the Justice Department sued to undo in 2021.

☆ Elizabeth Warren leads cavalry into deal battles
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( Jonathan Guilford | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

It would be the third curious regulatory intervention in recent weeks, each encouraged by Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren. In a September letter to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Warren argued that the DOT should use its own tools, specifically in the Spirit situation. UnitedHealth (UNH.N) beat back a federal lawsuit against its plan to buy Change Healthcare; Facebook owner Meta Platforms (META.O) shrugged off an FTC attempt to stop its purchase of fitness app developer Within. JetBlue says it built time for a lawsuit into the Spirit merger agreement. As the senator charges up the competition cavalry, dealmakers may have to redraw their battle plans.

☆ A top digital health investor predicts that a big tech company like Amazon or Salesforce will buy a mountain of patient health records in 2023
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-28 | by ( Blake Dodge | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

She said that next year, a tech giant will buy an electronic medical records company. Missy Krasner, who oversaw several health efforts at Google and Amazon, predicts that a large technology firm will buy a mountain of patient medical records in 2023. EHR companies provide software that doctors use to store and analyze medical records and other kinds of patient data. The timing is right for big tech to make a play for patient dataThe timing may be right for a big tech company to buy its way into owning patient data. Tech companies have made seismic investments in this area.

"It's a combination of the FTC and (Justice Department) being willing to litigate and the fact that companies are fighting back," Grosberg said. More recently, they have lost four attempts to block mergers in court, though they are appealing two of the cases. The Justice Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Break-up fees that acquirers agree to pay their targets if their deal gets shot down by antitrust regulators are also on the rise. Many companies facing merger challenges say they will fight on, emboldened by the four court losses of the Justice Department and FTC.

☆ Limiting volatility has driven Clarkston Founders fund to outperform in 2022
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-12 | by ( Alex Harring | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

The Clarkston Founders Institutional Fund has always tried to avoid volatility. The Founder's Fund has lost about 2.8% in 2022, notably outperforming other mid-cap value funds, which are down an average 7.2%, and a Morningstar benchmark index, which is lower by 5.6%, all through Dec. 9. As a result, the $610-million fund has a below average beta — a measurement of volatility relative to the broad market — of 0.85, according to Morningstar, versus 1.08 for all mid-cap value funds. The fund ranks in the 15th percentile of all mid-cap value funds in 2022, and is in the 23rd percentile over the past five years. Clarkston's investment policy emphasizes what it calls "quality value" stocks, regarded as high quality and considered undervalued relative to their long-term cash flows.

"The legal precedent is not on the side of the FTC," said Andre Barlow, an antitrust lawyer at Doyle, Barlow & Mazard PLLC. Barlow pointed to three recent mergers challenged by the FTC or Justice Department that were ultimately allowed to proceed. Those cases share something else in common with the proposed Microsoft deal: in each instance, a company would merge with a supplier in a so-called "vertical" merger. "Vertical merger challenges are really difficult to win so it will be an uphill battle for the FTC," said Roger Alford, who teaches law at the University of Notre Dame. Reuters reported last month that Microsoft was expected to offer remedies to EU antitrust regulators in the coming weeks to stave off formal objections to the deal.

☆ David Einhorn says he's bearish because the Fed's 'official policy is to make the stock market go down'
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-20 | by ( Yun Li | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Greenlight Capital's David Einhorn, who is crushing the market with double-digit returns this year, is selling stocks as the Federal Reserve continues to deflate the market with aggressive rate hikes. However, higher interest rates also discourage investments and in turn crunch supply, which is most evident in the housing market. "The most glaring area might be in housing, where higher rates lead to reduced supply despite widespread shortage," Einhorn said. That compares with a 23.9% decline for the S & P 500 during the same period as the benchmark tumbled into a bear market. Further, high short-term interest rates provide competition for gold," Einhorn said.

☆ Justice Department's fight with JetBlue and American Airlines heads to court
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-27 | by ( Leslie Josephs | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

An American Airlines plane lands on a runway near a parked JetBlue plane at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on July 16, 2020 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The Justice Department heads to court in Boston on Tuesday in hopes of undoing a year-and-a-half-old pact between American Airlines and JetBlue Airways in the Northeast U.S. Last September, the Justice Department along with the attorneys general of six states and the District of Columbia sued to block the partnership, which was approved in the final days of the Trump administration. The antitrust trial will be a test for President Joe Biden's Justice Department, which has been tasked with taking a hard stance against threats to competition. Earlier this month, a federal judge denied the Justice Department's bid to block UnitedHealth's acquisition of Change Healthcare.

☆ Judge denies DOJ request to block UnitedHealth-Change acquisition
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-20 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

In this videoShare Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailJudge denies DOJ request to block UnitedHealth-Change acquisitionA U.S. judge has denied the Justice Department's effort to block UnitedHealth's bid to buy Change Healthcare. CNBC's David Faber breaks down the details.

☆ Stocks making the biggest moves midday: Change Healthcare, Ford, PayPal, Humana and more
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-20 | by ( Carmen Reinicke | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Change Healthcare – Shares of Change Healthcare jumped 6.4% after a federal judge said that UnitedHealth cannot take over the company. Humana – Shares of health company Humana gained 1% and touched an all-time high a day after the company raised its earnings guidance for the fiscal year. Cognex — Shares of machine vision systems maker Cognex jumped nearly 7% after the company raised its revenue outlook for the current quarter. Olin — The manufacturing company fell 4.6% after issuing its third-quarter EBITDA guidance. MicroStrategy – Shares of software company MicroStrategy fell 4.6% after the company announced that it made its smallest purchase of Bitcoin in two years.

☆ Stocks making the biggest moves in the premarket: Ford, Change Healthcare, Cognex and more
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-20 | by ( Peter Schacknow | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Take a look at some of the biggest movers in the premarket:Ford (F) – The automaker's stock fell 4.5% in the premarket after it warned that quarterly earnings would take a hit of about $1 billion from increased supplier costs and parts shortages. BioNTech fell 2.4% in premarket trading, with Moderna off by 2.1%. Cognex (CGNX) – Cognex shares jumped 4.7% in the premarket after the maker of machine vision systems and sensors raised its current-quarter revenue outlook. Western Digital (WDC) – The disk drive maker's shares fell 1.7% in the premarket following a downgrade by Deutsche Bank to "hold" from "buy." Deutsche Bank said the company's profit and revenue appear to be coming in at the low end of guidance due to deteriorating demand.

☆ U.S. trustbusters’ red faces match legal red tape
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

A UnitedHealth Group health insurance card is seen in a wallet in this picture illustration October 14, 2019. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson/IllustrationNEW YORK, Sept 20 (Reuters Breakingviews) - America’s antitrust enforcers can’t catch a legal break. Unless they start scoring court wins, competition hawks’ legacy may be less stopping M&A than making it more painful. UnitedHealth’s victory, which followed 20 months of investigation and litigation, confirms that merger reviews generally are becoming more onerous. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.

☆ Judge denies U.S. bid to stop UnitedHealth plan to buy Change
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-19 | by ( Diane Bartz | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A U.S. judge on Monday denied the Justice Department’s bid to stop UnitedHealth Group from buying Change Healthcare, a court filing showed, in a blow to the U.S. administration’s tougher enforcement of antitrust issues. UnitedHealth announced the all-cash deal in January 2021, saying it would help streamline administrative and payment processes. UnitedHealth said it was “pleased with the decision” and looked forward to combining with Change as quickly as possible. The Justice Department had said that UnitedHealth and Change Healthcare offer competing software for processing healthcare claims and together serve 38 of the top-40 health insurers in the country. The Justice Department also lost a bid to win convictions of executives at chicken processing companies that it accused of price-fixing.

☆ Judge Rejects Antitrust Challenge to UnitedHealth Acquisition
▼ + stars: | 2022-08-22 | by ( Anna Wilde Mathews | Brent Kendall | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

The court’s decision is a win for UnitedHealth, which owns the largest U.S. health insurer and a sprawling healthcare operation that comprises thousands of doctors as well as clinics and valuable data. August 22, 2022, USA: UnitedHealth Group headquarters in Minnetonka, Minnesota. (Credit Image: Â© File/Minneapolis Star Tribune via ZUMA Press Wire)WASHINGTON—A federal judge Monday ruled against a Justice Department antitrust challenge to UnitedHealth Group $13 billion acquisition of health-technology firm Change Healthcare rejecting government claims that the deal would unlawfully suppress competition and limit innovation in health-insurance markets. U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols ruled for the companies in an opinion that he kept under seal for now because he said it “may contain competitively sensitive information.” The judge said he would release a redacted public version of the ruling in the coming days. In a one-page public order, he denied the Justice Department’s request to block the companies from completing the deal.

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