Chapter 1: What caused UnitedHealth's revenue outlook to miss expectations?
Welcome to Seeking Alpha's Wall Street Lunch, our afternoon update on today's market action, news, and analysis. Good afternoon. Today is Tuesday, January 27th, and I'm your host, Kim Kahn. Our top story so far.
UnitedHealth Group is plunging, along with other managed care names, after Q4 revenue and its full-year revenue outlook both fell short of Wall Street forecasts, hitting an industry already reeling from an unfavorable Medicare rate decision. The number one player in the Medicare Advantage market is down nearly 20%, dragging the Dow into the red.
Humana, CVS, Cigna, Clover Health, and Alignment Healthcare are also under pressure. The Trump administration has proposed nearly flat reimbursement rates for Medicare Advantage payers in 2027. The average payment increase is slated at just 0.09%, roughly $700 million overall.
Chapter 2: How did Boeing's earnings report impact its stock performance?
Street analysts have been looking for a 4-6% rise. UnitedHealth reported adjusted EPS of $2.10 for the quarter, in line with the consensus, while Q4 revenue came in at $113.2 billion, missing forecasts by about $520 million, despite 12% year-over-year growth.
For 2026, the company projects adjusted EPS of more than $17.75, roughly in line with the $17.76 analysts expect on more than $439 billion in revenue, below the streets forecast of $456 billion. Edmund Ingham, seeking Alpha's investing group leader for Hagerston BioHealth, called it a somewhat disastrous start for the new year for America's largest health insurer.
It looks as though UnitedHealth's shareholders are in for more pain after a tough 2025, which saw shares decline by about 30%, he added. Also in earnings, Boeing is lower despite Q4 results that beat expectations on earnings and revenue as investors weigh strong delivery growth against ongoing operational and financial concerns. Boeing is still posting losses in key units.
Chapter 3: What are the implications of UPS's revenue performance on the logistics sector?
The commercial airplane segment recorded an operating loss of $632 million in the quarter, while defense, space, and security had a $507 million operating loss that included around $600 million of charges on the KC-46A tanker program tied to higher production support and supply chain costs. United Parcel Service posted an EPS of $2.38, topping the $2.20 consensus. U.S.
domestic segment revenue fell 3.2% year-over-year to $16.8 billion versus $16.3 billion expected. That was primarily due to an anticipated decline in volume. For the full year, UPS expects revenue of about $89.7 billion versus $88 billion consensus and sees non-GAAP-adjusted operating margin around 9.6%.
Chapter 4: How did consumer confidence levels change in January 2026?
And General Motors reported another solid quarter, as better-than-expected profits, a dividend hike, and a share buyback offset a 5% decline in sales and a significant write-off in its electric vehicle business. On the economic front, the Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index tumbled 9.7 points to 84.5 in January, missing the 90 consensus and down from 94.2 in December.
Confidence collapsed in January as consumer concerns about both the present situation and expectations for the future deepened, Dana M. Peterson, chief economist at the conference board, said. All five components of the index deteriorated, driving the overall index to its lowest level since May 2014, surpassing its COVID-19 pandemic depths.
In other years of note, Apple may have picked Google to help power its next version of Siri, but it also held talks with Anthropic, according to Bloomberg. Apple was in discussions with both Anthropic and OpenAI about helping run Siri and handling parts of Apple intelligence.
But Bloomberg reports Anthropic, the maker of the Claude family of AI models, wanted several billion dollars a year over multiple years, and Apple ultimately decided those terms weren't attractive. Earlier this month, it was also reported that Opening Eye made a conscious decision to sit out the deal, as Apple and the chat GPT maker increasingly see each other as competitors.
Chapter 5: What predictions are being made about silver prices in the near future?
And in the Wall Street research corner, silver should be trading at half its current price later in 2026, according to Marko Kalanovic, former chief strategist and co-head of global research at J.P. Morgan. The precious metal is knocking on the door of $1.10 per ounce, but Kalanovic says this is the result of mean traders attempting to take over the market.
Both silver and gold are currently rallying as political tensions rise, and predictions markets are now foreseeing an 80% probability that a partial federal government shutdown could occur by the end of this week. But these silver prices will not last, Kalanovich said.
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