CluenexCentene CNC
Centene scores average on business quality (4.5 of 10). Here is why, in plain words, and what our sealed record shows.
Why it matters
- What Centene does
Centene manages government-sponsored healthcare programs, collecting state and federal payments to provide Medicaid, Medicare, and marketplace plans to millions of low-income and vulnerable members.Revenue scales rapidly through managed care enrollment gains, pushing total revenue to $203 billion as the company expands its footprint in state-backed contracts.
- What it does best
Centene dominates government-backed healthcare access, capturing top-decile revenue growth of 19.4% that outpaces peers like UnitedHealth at 11.8%. This scale across state programs makes it uniquely difficult for smaller rivals to replicate its low-cost administrative machinery.
- The main risk
Thin margins leave little room for error when medical cost trends spike. With an operating margin of just 0.8% and a net loss of $5.1 billion, unexpected utilization surges in government programs can quickly wipe out profitability.
Quality, check by check
Scored against its own industry, from company filings.
Operating margins compress to 0.8% and return on equity drops to -24.0%, anchored by a net loss of $5.1 billion. Scale does not translate to profit here, as high medical loss ratios drain earnings.
Low-cost government contracting creates a narrow moat locked into state regulatory frameworks. An operating margin in the 8th percentile of its sector shows how little pricing power this structure allows.
Revenue growth surges at 19.4%, ranking in the 86th percentile of its sector. This top-line expansion accelerates well past historical averages as membership rolls swell.
Interest coverage sits at 2.6x against total debt of $17.4 billion, leaving debt servicing tight. Free cash flow rebounded to $8.7 billion, but the balance sheet remains strained.
Insiders
Executives and directors, from SEC Form 4 filings we read ourselves. Open market trades only; grants, option exercises and pre-planned sales left out.
1 sold $6.9M outside pre-planned sales.
Our sealed record on CNC
Verdicts appear here 30 days after we publish them; members see today's. Each one is in the nightly ledger, fingerprinted the night it was made.
The first sealed verdicts appear here on Oct 11, 2026.
Questions
Centene scores average on the Cluenex quality check (4.5 of 10), measured against its own industry. Profitability is weak, moat weak, growth fast and financial health fair.
In the last 90 days of SEC Form 4 filings: 1 sold $6.9M outside pre-planned sales.
Oct 27, 2026, before the open.
See CNC today
- Today's verdict on CNC, and why
- Fair value with cautious, base and optimistic cases
- The exact price that would change the verdict
- Which stocks each signal names, the night it fires
Cite this page: Cluenex, “Centene (CNC)”, https://cluenex.com/stocks/cnc/, data as of Oct 10, 2026.