Centene’s trend is to the downside despite solid fundamentals
Centene Corp. (NYSE: CNC) is a healthcare insurance provider that specializes in government-subsidized plans such as Medicaid. The stock has been trending lower since the beginning of December and has not been able to shake its downtrend the way the rest of the market has.
Looking at the daily chart, connecting the highs from December and February we get the upper rail of a downward sloping trend channel. The stock just brushed the upper rail this week and turned lower the next day.
The daily stochastic readings just hit overbought territory and turned lower, causing a bearish crossover from the indicators. We saw a similar scenario in April before the stock dropped over 20%.
The Tickeron AI Prediction tool generated a bearish signal toward Centene on May 8. The signal calls for a decline of at least 2.5% over the next week and it showed a confidence level of 65%. Previous predictions on Centene have been successful 69% of the time.
The fundamentals for Centene are mixed as the earnings and sales growth have been strong, but the management efficiency measurements are below average. Earnings have grown by an average of 29% per year over the last three years while sales have increased at a rate of 31%. Those are both well above average.
The return on equity is at 15.9% and the profit margin is only 3.4%. Both of these figures are below average.
