Stocks · Healthcare · Medical - Healthcare Plans
Centene Corp. CNC
$62.99 +3.28% Close, Oct 2, 2026 · NYSE · Market cap $31.12B
Strong trendLow risk
Next earnings report: Oct 27, 2026
Scroll or pinch to zoom, drag to move. Daily prices adjusted for splits. Markers: E = earnings (green beat, red miss), S = split, D = dividend.
Three things to know
- Diluted EPS over the last four quarters was $-10.44, down 358.4% year over year.
- Over the past year the stock returned +76.2%, ahead of the S&P 500 by 61.2 percentage points.
- The stock is in an uptrend: above its 200-day average for 124 trading days, with the 50-day average above the 200-day.
PromtFinance scores
Each score is a percentile within the Healthcare sector (0–100). Under each score: how the stock ranks in its sector on every component. As of Oct 5, 2026.
How fast revenue, earnings and cash flow are growing.
- Revenue growth (TTM, YoY)Bottom 50%
- EPS growth (TTM, YoY)Bottom 7%
- FCF growth (TTM, YoY)Top 2%
- Revenue growth, 3-year CAGRTop 50%
- Revenue growth accelerationBottom 20%
Returns on capital, margins, earnings quality and balance-sheet strength.
- Return on invested capitalTop 44%
- Gross marginBottom 13%
- Operating marginTop 45%
- Accruals (lower is better)Top 17%
- Interest coverBottom 34%
How cheap the shares are relative to earnings, cash flow and their own history.
- Earnings yieldBottom 38%
- Free-cash-flow yieldTop 2%
- EBITDA / enterprise valueBottom 36%
- Sales / enterprise valueTop 1%
Strength and persistence of the price trend, including versus the S&P 500.
- 12-month return excluding last monthTop 20%
- 6-month returnTop 12%
- 1-year return vs S&P 500Top 20%
- Distance from 52-week highTop 14%
- Trend checklist (0–4)Top 39%
Earnings surprises and analyst sentiment (estimate-revision history is being collected).
- Average EPS surprise, last 4 quartersTop 4%
- Consecutive EPS beatsTop 19%
- Share of analysts rating BuyBottom 26%
- Upside to consensus price targetBottom 16%
Low volatility, shallow drawdowns, low market sensitivity and modest leverage.
- Volatility, 60 days (lower is better)Top 17%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 yearsTop 48%
- Beta vs S&P 500 (lower is better)Top 10%
What changed
Latest four quarters versus the same period a year earlier (growth: versus one quarter earlier).
| Measure | Before | Now | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (YoY) | 17.0% | 8.7% | ↓ |
| EPS growth (YoY) | -295.8% | -358.4% | ↓ |
| Gross margin | 8.9% | 16.1% | ↑ |
| Operating margin | 1.1% | -2.8% | ↓ |
| FCF margin | 0.6% | 4.6% | ↑ |
Fundamental momentum
| Measure | Now (TTM) | Year / quarter before | Sector rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (TTM, YoY) | 8.7% | 17.0% | ↓ | Bottom 50% |
| EPS growth (TTM, YoY) | -358.4% | -295.8% | ↓ | Bottom 7% |
| Gross margin | 16.1% | 8.9% | ↑ | Bottom 13% |
| Operating margin | -2.8% | 1.1% | ↓ | Top 45% |
| Net margin | -2.6% | 1.2% | ↓ | — |
| Free-cash-flow margin | 4.6% | 0.6% | ↑ | — |
| Return on invested capital | -12.9% | — | Top 44% | |
| Revenue growth, 3-year CAGR | 10.5% | — | Top 50% |
Quality of earnings and balance sheet
- Accruals (net income − OCF) / assetsLower is better; high accruals can signal weaker earnings quality.
- -17.9%
- Stock-based compensation / revenueA cost to shareholders through dilution.
- 0.1%
- Receivables growth vs revenue growthReceivables growing much faster than sales can be a warning.
- -24.9 pp
- Net debt / EBITDABelow 1× is conservative; above 3× is high leverage.
- Net cash
- Interest cover (operating income / interest)How many times operating profit covers interest.
- -8.3×
Shareholder returns
- Dividend yield (dividends paid, TTM)
- 0.00%
- Net buyback yield (TTM)
- -0.01%
- Shareholder yield
- -0.01%
- Share count change, 1 year
- +0.8%
- Share count change, 3-year CAGR
- -3.3%
Shareholder yield = dividends + net buybacks over the last four quarters, divided by market cap.
Based on the four quarters through Jun 30, 2026 (filed Jul 28, 2026).
Earnings and expectations
Earnings momentum
- Consecutive EPS beats
- 4
- Beats in the last 8 reports
- 7 of 8
- Average EPS surprise, last 4
- +100.0%
- Average 2-day reaction, last 8
- +2.6%
- Positive 20 days after report
- 5 of 8
Analysts
- Consensus price target
- $68.29
- Target vs current price
- +8.4%
- Analysts with a rating
- 44
- Share rating Buy or Strong Buy
- 61%
- Consensus rating
- Buy
How the stock reacted to recent reports
| Report date | EPS surprise | 2 days | 5 days | 20 days | 60 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 28, 2026 | +130.3% | -0.3% | -0.5% | +2.5% | — |
| Apr 28, 2026 | +51.1% | +13.9% | +23.1% | +31.5% | +46.5% |
| Feb 6, 2026 | +2.5% | -3.7% | -1.9% | +9.3% | +34.2% |
| Oct 29, 2025 | +445.4% | +12.5% | +8.8% | +19.5% | +39.4% |
| Jul 25, 2025 | -243.4% | +6.1% | -2.6% | +7.7% | +31.8% |
| Apr 25, 2025 | +15.1% | -6.3% | -3.5% | -5.7% | -54.7% |
| Feb 4, 2025 | +81.8% | -5.4% | -9.1% | -10.7% | -7.7% |
| Oct 25, 2024 | +21.8% | +4.2% | +1.0% | -2.1% | +5.7% |
Returns from the close before each report. Past reactions do not determine future ones.
Earnings history
| Report date | EPS | Estimate | Surprise | Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 28, 2026 | $2.51 | $1.09 | +130.3% | $53.58B |
| Apr 28, 2026 | $3.37 | $2.23 | +51.1% | $49.94B |
| Feb 6, 2026 | -$1.19 | -$1.22 | +2.5% | $49.73B |
| Oct 29, 2025 | $0.50 | -$0.14 | +445.4% | $49.69B |
| Jul 25, 2025 | -$0.16 | $0.11 | -243.4% | $48.74B |
| Apr 25, 2025 | $2.90 | $2.52 | +15.1% | $46.62B |
| Feb 4, 2025 | $0.80 | $0.44 | +81.8% | $40.80B |
| Oct 25, 2024 | $1.62 | $1.33 | +21.8% | $42.02B |
Valuation in context
| Multiple | Now | 5-year median | 5-year percentile | Sector rank (cheapness) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P/E (forward) | 12.9× | — | — | — |
| EV / Sales | 0.12× | — | — | Top 1% |
| Free-cash-flow yield | 28.82% | — | — | Top 2% |
| Earnings yield | -16.57% | — | — | Bottom 38% |
P/E over the past five years
Range 7.0× – 57.8× since Jun 30, 2021. Each point: price on the filing date divided by trailing-twelve-month EPS known then.
What moved the stock over the past year
- Price return, 1 year
- +76.2%
- Earnings per share growth (TTM)
- -358.4%
- Change in P/E multiple
- -49.3%
Most of the move came from a change in the valuation multiple.
Technical state
Trend checklist
- ✗ Price above 20-day average
- ✗ Price above 50-day average
- ✓ Price above 200-day average
- ✓ 50-day average above 200-day
- ✗ MACD histogram positive
Trend quality
- Days above the 50-day average
- 0
- Days above the 200-day average
- 124
- 50-day average slope (20 days)
- -1.2%
- 200-day average slope (20 days)
- +5.2%
- Distance from 50-day average
- -2.7%
- Distance from 200-day average
- +19.3%
- RSI (14)
- 46.1
- Relative volume
- 0.76×
Risk and drawdowns
- Volatility, 60 days (annualized)
- 35.9%
- Volatility vs own 5-year history
- 65th percentile · Normal for this stock
- Beta vs S&P 500 (2 years, weekly)
- 0.33
- Correlation with S&P 500
- 0.10
- Current drawdown from 1-year high
- -9.2%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 years
- -68.6%
Largest declines in the past six years
| From peak | To low | Decline | Length | Recovery |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 15, 2022 | Aug 6, 2025 | -74.1% | 746 days | Not yet recovered |
| Jul 12, 2021 | Sep 10, 2021 | -20.0% | 43 days | 42 days (Nov 9, 2021) |
| Nov 10, 2020 | Feb 19, 2021 | -18.5% | 68 days | 63 days (May 20, 2021) |
| Apr 20, 2022 | Jun 13, 2022 | -14.9% | 37 days | 22 days (Jul 15, 2022) |
| Oct 23, 2020 | Oct 29, 2020 | -13.5% | 4 days | 5 days (Nov 5, 2020) |
Declines of 10% or more from a closing high, measured on daily closes.
Financial statements
- Market cap
- $31.12B
- EPS, diluted (TTM)
- -$10.44
- Revenue (TTM)
- $193.73B
- 52-week range
- $31.63 – $69.63
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $125.98B | $144.55B | $154.00B | $163.07B | $194.78B |
| Gross profit | $14.20B | $16.66B | $17.32B | $16.83B | $23.83B |
| Operating income | $1.78B | $1.32B | $2.93B | $3.17B | -$7.62B |
| Net income | $1.35B | $1.20B | $2.70B | $3.31B | -$6.67B |
| EPS (diluted) | $2.28 | $2.07 | $4.95 | $6.31 | -$13.62 |
| Q3 2024 | Q4 2024 | Q1 2025 | Q2 2025 | Q3 2025 | Q4 2025 | Q1 2026 | Q2 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $42.02B | $40.80B | $46.62B | $48.74B | $49.69B | $49.73B | $49.94B | $44.38B |
| Net income | $713.0M | $283.0M | $1.31B | -$253.0M | -$6.63B | -$1.10B | $1.54B | $1.09B |
| EPS (diluted) | $1.36 | $0.56 | $2.63 | -$0.51 | -$13.50 | -$2.24 | $3.11 | $2.19 |
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating cash flow | $4.21B | $6.26B | $8.05B | $154.0M | $5.09B |
| Capital expenditure | -$910.0M | -$1.00B | -$799.0M | -$644.0M | -$767.0M |
| Free cash flow | $3.29B | $5.26B | $7.25B | -$490.0M | $4.32B |
| Dividends paid | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Net share buybacks | -$297.0M | -$3.03B | -$1.59B | -$3.08B | -$438.0M |
Cash outflows are shown as negative numbers.
- Cash and short-term investments
- $27.06B
- Total assets
- $83.01B
- Total liabilities
- $60.35B
- Total debt
- $16.11B
- Net debt
- -$8.05B
- Shareholders’ equity
- $22.56B
As of Jun 30, 2026 (filed Jul 28, 2026).
Short interest
- Shares sold short
- 14,134,355
- Days to cover
- 3.47
- Change vs previous report
- +5.3%
FINRA short interest, settlement date Sep 15, 2026.
Stock splits
- Feb 7, 2019
- 2-for-1
- Feb 20, 2015
- 2-for-1
- Dec 20, 2004
- 2-for-1
- Jul 14, 2003
- 3-for-2