Centene Corp (CNC)
Health Care · Managed Health Care · US stock · S&P 500 component
$71.24
▲ +1.00 (1.42%)
Fair valueData under review
No reliable estimate yet
Too few of our valuation models give a usable value for this company, so we show no number rather than a misleading one. How fair value works
Day's range
$69.79 – $72.50
52-week range
$31.63 – $72.50
About Centene Corp
Centene is a managed health care company that arranges and pays for medical coverage for people enrolled in government-sponsored programmes. Its main focus is Medicaid, and it also covers people through Medicare plans and the individual health insurance marketplace, where plans are offered under the Ambetter name. Members receive care through networks of doctors and hospitals that the company contracts with, and the company manages their claims and care coordination.
Revenue comes mainly from premiums paid by state and federal governments and by individuals, out of which the company pays its members' medical costs. In the last twelve months it totalled $202.9 billion, growing at 10.5% a year across the last three years. The operating margin is -2.8%, which means the business made an operating loss, and the return on the capital invested in it is -38%. No dividend is paid. On the site's X-Ray Score it receives 42 out of 100.
Price chart
52-wk range $31.63 – $72.50Volume 4,696,091Daily, split-adjusted
Vitals
Market cap$35.5B
52-week range$31.63 – $72.50
Volume (last day)4,696,091
P/E (TTM)–
EBIT / EV yield-23.0%
Free-cash-flow yield25.2%
Dividend yieldNo dividend
Revenue (TTM)$202.9B
Net income (TTM)−$5.1B
Operating margin-2.8%
Return on capital-38.4%
Debt incl. leases$16.1B
Cash & securities$27.1B
Debt = borrowings plus lease liabilities. Cash & securities = cash, equivalents and short-term marketable securities (long-term securities are not counted, so net cash can be understated for companies that hold large long-term investments). Net debt = debt minus cash & securities. Source: latest SEC 10-Q/10-K. EBIT / EV yield = operating profit divided by market cap plus net debt.
Fair value estimate
Data under review
Only 2 valuation models give a usable value for this company, which is too few for a fair value we would stand behind
What this means
Read the lenses below
A high score does not guarantee a good outcome; it shifts the odds a little. Use the checklist as a prompt for your own research.
Before you invest · decision checklist
Ticked boxes are filled in from our data; the rest are yours to answer.
The five-lens scan
Every score explained in one sentence, ranked against Health Care peers. Open a lens to see the numbers behind it.
Strong: 70 to 100Fair: 50 to 69Weak: under 50No score: not enough data
Valuation
Fair
58/100
Priced about in line with its sector.
See the numbers →
EBIT / EV yield-23.0%
Free-cash-flow yield25.2%
Growth
Fair
65/100
Growing at a typical pace for its sector.
See the numbers →
Revenue growth (3y)10.5%
Growth consistency100%
Profitability
Weak
32/100
Earns lower returns on its capital than most peers.
See the numbers →
Return on invested capital-38.4%
Operating margin-2.8%
Gross profitability19.5%
Financial health
Weak
10/100
Balance sheet is more stretched than most peers.
See the numbers →
Piotroski F-Score4 / 9
Interest cover-8.6×
Dividends
None
–/100
Pays no dividend.
See the numbers →
Quarterly results: last 6 quarters
+15.4%
Mar '25
+22.4%
Jun '25
+18.2%
Sep '25
+21.9%
Dec '25
+7.1%
Mar '26
+9.9%
Jun '26
Revenue against the same quarter a year earlier. Latest quarter revenue $53.6B, diluted EPS $2.19.
Compare with peers
ELV Elevance Health, Inc.60 UNH Unitedhealth Group Inc58 HUM Humana Inc47Other Managed Health Care companies by X-Ray Score.
SWOT analysis: Centene Corp
Strengthsinside the company
- Revenue has grown 10.5% a year over three years (median 11.4% for industry peers).
- Free cash flow equals 25.2% of the market value, which funds dividends, buybacks or debt paydown.
Weaknessesinside the company
- Return on invested capital is only -38.4% (median 12.7% for industry peers), so the business earns little above its cost of capital.
- Operating margin of -2.8% is thin against 2.7% for industry peers.
- Altman Z-score of 0.8 is in the zone linked with financial distress in past studies.
Opportunitiesvaluation and setting
- Revenue growth picked up to 19.4% last year from 10.5% a year over three years.
- Price momentum is strong on the weekly and monthly signals (trends can reverse).
Threatsvaluation and setting
- Too few of our valuation models give a usable value for this company to state a fair value; treat price comparisons with caution.
Written by fixed rules from the figures on this page and the peer table below: filings, our fair value, the sector climate and the price trend. It summarises the data, it is not a forecast or advice.
Compare CNC with peers and sector
Medians of 3 Managed Health Care peers and of 59 Health Care stocks in our universe.
Largest peers (X-Ray Score): UNH 58, ELV 60, HUM 47.
| Metric | CNC | Peers | Sector |
|---|---|---|---|
| X-Ray Score (out of 100) | 42 | 58 | 49 |
| Valuation | 58 | 71 | 52 |
| Growth | 65 | 52 | 47 |
| Profitability | 32 | 55 | 51 |
| Financial health | 10 | 51 | 48 |
| Dividends | – | 65 | 51 |
Sector leaders: highest X-Ray Score in Health Care
CNC ranks #45 of 60 in Health Care and #4 of 4 in Managed Health Care by X-Ray Score. A higher score is stronger on our five pillars; it is a ranking of facts, not a forecast.
Green means better than the peer median, red worse (only where a higher or lower figure is clearly better). A dash means too few companies report the figure. P/E, EV/EBITDA and price changes are not graded: a different level is not good or bad by itself.
Factor ratings for CNC
Each factor is rated by where CNC stands among the 60 Health Care stocks in our universe.
Rating against the sector
Goodthe top third of these stocks
Averagethe middle third of these stocks
Badthe bottom third of these stocks
"Beats" is the share of those stocks it is ahead of.
Against its own history
The last columns set today's figure against the company's own median of its last five financial years:
▲ Betterbetter than its usual level
▼ Worseworse than its usual level
≈ In linewithin its usual range
For valuation factors Good means cheaper than most of the sector and Better means cheaper than usual for this company, which is not the same as a bargain.
In total: 6 Good · 0 Average · 10 Bad of 16
Growth: 2 · 0 · 0
Profitability: 0 · 0 · 5
Financial strength: 0 · 0 · 3
Valuation: 3 · 0 · 0
Cash flow: 1 · 0 · 2
| Factor | CNC | Rating | Sector median | Own 5-year median | Against own history |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Growth | |||||
| Revenue growth, 3 years a year | +10.5% | Good beats 76% | +5.5% | – | – |
| Revenue growth, last year | +19.4% | Good beats 91% | +7.1% | +13.4% | ▲ Better |
| Profitability | |||||
| Gross margin | 8.0% | Bad beats 7% | 65.0% | 11.5% | ▼ Worse |
| Operating margin | -2.8% | Bad beats 4% | 16.4% | 1.4% | ▼ Worse |
| Net margin | -2.5% | Bad beats 8% | 11.1% | 1.1% | ▼ Worse |
| Return on invested capital | -38.4% | Bad beats 3% | 12.2% | – | – |
| Return on equity | -22.6% | Bad beats 5% | 13.7% | 5.0% | ▼ Worse |
| Financial strength | |||||
| Interest cover | -8.6x | Bad beats 1% | 9.4x | 2.7x | ▼ Worse |
| Current ratio | 1.15 | Bad beats 24% | 1.52 | 1.11 | ≈ In line |
| Piotroski F-score | 4 / 9 | Bad beats 10% | 6 / 9 | – | – |
| Valuation | |||||
| Price / book | 1.6x | Good beats 90% | 3.7x | 1.6x | ≈ In line |
| Price / sales | 0.2x | Good beats 99% | 3.7x | 0.3x | ≈ In line |
| Free cash flow yield | 25.2% | Good beats 99% | 4.4% | 11.0% | ▲ Better |
| Cash flow | |||||
| Free cash flow margin | 4.4% | Bad beats 18% | 16.3% | 2.6% | ▲ Better |
| Free cash flow growth, 3 years a year | −6.3% | Bad beats 23% | +4.3% | – | – |
| Accruals (lower is better) | −17.9% | Good beats 96% | −3.9% | – | – |
These ratings compare companies with each other and describe the past; they are not a forecast, a recommendation or part of the X-Ray Score. A factor is left out when its data is missing or meaningless (for example a P/E on negative earnings). A dash in the history columns means fewer than three usable years.
Fundamentals checklist
● 4 Good · ● 0 Average · ● 9 BadCash quality
Earnings backed by cashGood
Free-cash-flow yieldGood
Risk models
Altman Z''Bad
Piotroski F-ScoreBad
Growth
Free-cash-flow growth (3y)Bad
Revenue growth (3y)Good
Growth consistencyGood
Balance sheet
Current ratioBad
Interest coverBad
Valuation
EBIT / EV yieldBad
Profitability
Return on invested capitalBad
Operating marginBad
Gross profitabilityBad
Each check is graded against the company's sector, not a fixed number. Checklist score 33/100.
Financials
| FY21 | FY22 | FY23 | FY24 | FY25 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $126.0B | $144.5B | $154.0B | $163.1B | $194.8B |
| Operating income | $1.8B | $1.3B | $2.9B | $3.2B | −$7.6B |
| Net income | $1.3B | $1.2B | $2.7B | $3.3B | −$6.7B |
| Operating cash flow | $4.2B | $6.3B | $8.1B | $154M | $5.1B |
| Operating margin | 1.4% | 0.9% | 1.9% | 1.9% | -3.9% |
| Free cash flow | $3.3B | $5.3B | $7.3B | −$490M | $4.3B |
| Diluted EPS | $2.28 | $2.07 | $4.95 | $6.31 | $-13.53 |
Fiscal years, from SEC filings.
Technical summary
Daily
Strongly bullish
12 bullish · 1 neutral · 3 bearish
Weekly
Strongly bullish
11 bullish · 1 neutral · 0 bearish
Monthly
Strongly bullish
7 bullish · 1 neutral · 0 bearish
Moving averages (daily)
| SMA 10 | 69.20 | Bullish |
| EMA 10 | 69.07 | Bullish |
| SMA 20 | 66.15 | Bullish |
| EMA 20 | 67.53 | Bullish |
| SMA 50 | 65.73 | Bullish |
| EMA 50 | 65.87 | Bullish |
| SMA 100 | 65.19 | Bullish |
| EMA 100 | 62.99 | Bullish |
| SMA 200 | 54.68 | Bullish |
| EMA 200 | 57.68 | Bullish |
Oscillators (daily)
| RSI (14) | 65.78 | Neutral |
| MACD (12, 26) | 1.64 | Bullish |
| Momentum (12) | 10.26 | Bullish |
| Stochastic %K (14) | 86.83 | Bearish |
| Williams %R (14) | -13.17 | Bearish |
| CCI (20) | 109.8 | Bearish |
Pivot points (classic, last session)
S3 67.13 | S2 68.46 | S1 69.85 | Pivot 71.18 | R1 72.57 | R2 73.89 | R3 75.28 |
Signals describe what the chart is doing, not what to do. Moving averages: price above the average is bullish. Oscillators use the usual thresholds (RSI 30/70, Stochastic 20/80, CCI ±100, Williams %R −80/−20; MACD and momentum above zero are bullish). Weekly and monthly views use closing prices only.
ETFs that hold CNC
| ETF | Share of the fund |
|---|---|
| IHF iShares U.S. Healthcare Providers | 4.22% |
| RPV Invesco S&P 500 Pure Value | 2.53% |
| VFLO VictoryShares Free Cash Flow | 2.16% |
| RWL Invesco S&P 500 Revenue | 1.59% |
| NULV Nuveen ESG Large-Cap Value | 0.79% |
| CLSE Convergence Long/Short Equity | 0.69% |
| FMDE Fidelity Enhanced Mid Cap | 0.56% |
| XLV Health Care Select Sector SPDR | 0.52% |
The eight funds with the largest weight in CNC among the ETFs we cover, from each fund's latest SEC Form N-PORT (quarter-end positions, so they can be months old). All ETFs.
CNC stock splits
CNC has split its stock 4 times since 2003. The latest was a 2-for-1 split on 7 Feb 2019.
Full CNC stock split history →CNC SEC filings
8-KSEC EDGAR
Other events
8-KSEC EDGAR
Regulation FD disclosure
8-KSEC EDGAR
Director or officer change; Regulation FD disclosure
8-KSEC EDGAR
Other events
8-KSEC EDGAR
Results of operations; Director or officer change
10-QSEC EDGAR
Quarterly report
8-KSEC EDGAR
Director or officer change; Regulation FD disclosure
8-KSEC EDGAR
Director or officer change; Shareholder vote results
Where the numbers come from
Statements SEC EDGAR filings (10-K, 10-Q), quarters derived from year-to-date figures.
Prices end-of-day closes, split-adjusted.
Industry inputs beta, multiples and equity risk premium from Damodaran Online (NYU Stern).
StocksXray is for education only and is not financial advice. Scores and fair values are model estimates from public filings and carry uncertainty.