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NEW YORK STOCK EXCHANGE, INC. · Health Care · CIK 0001071739
$71.24
+1.42% · delayed ~15 min
Last price from Oct 22, 2026
$35.03B market value
From CENTENE CORP's FY2025 10-K, filed Feb 17, 2026 · read the filing
CENTENE sells insurance. It took in $174.58B last year, which makes it a very large company. It spends more than it earns — losing about 4 cents on every dollar of sales.
The financial picture is led by growth, while profitability and debt remain weak.
A conclusion from the filings, not a recommendation. Detailed figures and supporting evidence appear in their dedicated sections below.
Recent open-market selling by KOSTER CHRISTOPHER, not under a pre-arranged plan.
$3.8M sold in the last 120 days · Read the filing
These are things the company filed or that a published model flagged — not predictions, and not a reason on their own to buy or sell anything.
Financial health
A mixed picture — some clear strengths and some weaknesses.
From CENTENE CORP's FY2025 annual filing · share price scored separately
Largest year-over-year changes in FY2025
Operating income
$3.17B → -$7.62B
Profit
$3.31B → -$6.67B
Free cash flow
-$490.0M → $4.32B
Earnings per share
$6.66 → -$13.57
Measured against FY2024, from the 10-K filed Feb 17, 2026
Deteriorated: turned negative
$3.17B to -$7.62BCritical
Why it matters: Profit from running the business, before interest and tax. Less exposed than profit to one-off financing and tax items, so a clearer read on the business itself.
Deteriorated: turned negative
$3.31B to -$6.67BCritical
Why it matters: Profit swings far more than sales do, and one-off items — a legal settlement, a tax charge, an asset sale — move it without the underlying business changing.
How the latest move compares (quote delayed ~15 min), and what was published around it
CNC rose 1.42% on the latest quote. The average Financials company tracked here moved +1.10%, and the S&P 500 −1.04%. That is in line with its sector and 2.5 points above the market.
Expectations
Not from the filings — what other people are betting on, and what the price already assumes.
Opinions from 27 analysts covering this company, as of . Their views, not this site's.
Of 27 analysts publishing on this company, 5 say strong buy, 7 say buy, 14 say hold and 1 say sell. Analysts are paid to publish a view and are wrong often; the split above says how much they agree with each other, which is the part a single headline rating hides.
Published by Finnhub. Analyst coverage skews towards larger companies and towards optimism — sell ratings are rare across the whole market, so a company with none is ordinary rather than endorsed.
The essentials
Each answered from the filings, with the numbers behind it.
No. It lost $6.67B last year, losing about 4 cents on every dollar of sales.
Yes, quickly. Sales grew 20.0% last year.
For every $1 it owes, it owns $1.35 in assets. Banks and insurers always carry high debt — that is how lending works — so this is normal for the industry and not comparable with other sectors. Its operating profit does not cover its interest bill — -11.24x against the interest it owes.
Core operating and valuation reference metrics
Income
This company pays no dividend. It keeps its profits and reinvests them in the business instead, so any return would have to come from the share price.
Figures from the FY2025 annual filing
Last year it lost $6.67B and generated $5.09B of cash from operations.
As reported to the SEC, in USD. Hover or show sources to see where each figure came from.
| Income statement | FY202510-K · Feb 17, 2026Filing for FY2025 | FY202410-K · Feb 18, 2025Filing for FY2024 | FY202310-K · Feb 20, 2024Filing for FY2023 | FY202210-K · Feb 20, 2024Filing for FY2022 | FY202110-K · Feb 20, 2024Filing for FY2021 | ChangeFY2025 vs FY2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RevenueWhat is this? | $174.58B | $145.50B | $140.09B | $135.48B | $117.98B | +20.0% |
| Cost of revenue | $2.67B | $2.73B | $3.56B | $7.03B | $4.89B | −2.2% |
| Gross profit | $14.21B | $17.07B | $17.64B | $16.92B | $14.49B | −16.8% |
| Gross marginGross profit ÷ revenueWhat is this? | 8.1% | 11.7% | 12.6% | 12.5% | 12.3% | −3.6 pts |
| Selling, general and administrative | $12.90B | $12.40B | $12.56B | $11.59B | $9.60B | +4.1% |
| Operating income | -$7.62B | $3.17B | $2.93B | $1.32B | $1.78B | n/m |
| Operating marginOperating income ÷ revenueWhat is this? | -4.4% | 2.2% | 2.1% | 1.0% | 1.5% | −6.5 pts |
| Interest expense | $678.0M | $702.0M | $725.0M | $665.0M | $665.0M | −3.4% |
| Income before tax | -$6.73B | $4.26B | $3.60B | $1.96B | $1.81B | n/m |
| Net income | -$6.67B | $3.31B | $2.70B | $1.20B | $1.35B | n/m |
| Net marginNet income ÷ revenueWhat is this? | -3.8% | 2.3% | 1.9% | 0.9% | 1.1% | −6.1 pts |
| Earnings per shareNet income ÷ shares outstanding at the period end — close to, but not the same as, the reported EPSWhat is this? | $-13.57 | $6.66 | $5.06 | $2.18 | $2.31 | n/m |
† calculated from other reported figures, such as total liabilities as assets minus equity.
This company's latest filing beside its peers' stored scores
| Company | Health | F-Score | Revenue growth | Profit margin | P/E | Debt to equity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CNCCENTENE CORP · this page | 4.7/10 | 4/9 | 20.0% |
Insider activity, ownership stakes and what's coming — straight from EDGAR, before any article is written about it
Officers, directors and major shareholders must report within two business days of a trade.
Had shares withheld to cover taxes — 7,130 shares at $70.16 ($500.2K)
Holds 115,752 shares after this filing.
Was granted or awarded shares — 583 shares
Holds 19,294 shares after this filing.
20 recent filings, newest first. Each is labelled from its form and item numbers, not from its wording.
Reported another event
Read the filingMade a Regulation FD disclosure
Read the filingWrite down why you are following CENTENE CORP, what has to go right and what would change your mind, then see each new annual report measured against it. Sign in to start one.
Go deeper
Every figure above traces back to a filing in the timeline, each linked to the document itself.
The 247 subsidiaries named in its 10-K. A filer lists the significant ones and may leave the rest out, so this is the floor rather than the full count.
Every company's figures are checked for internal consistency: the balance sheet adding up, figures sharing one currency, cash flow and share counts within plausible ranges, and how recent the latest annual report is. Nothing here changes a figure.
Financial figures are from CNC's 10-K for fiscal year 2025 (period ending 2025-12-31, filed Feb 17, 2026), reported under the US GAAP taxonomy. View the source filing.
3 of 4 scored areas had enough reported figures to judge
The score averages profitability, growth, debt and accounting. Accounting had too few reported figures and is left out of the average rather than counted as a weakness, so a company is never marked down for a figure it did not publish. Cash generation is shown for context and already feeds profitability. Valuation is scored separately, because a share price says nothing about whether the business is sound. 9 of the 9 Piotroski checks could be evaluated. How the score works
Each year scored only from its annual report as it was first filed
| Fiscal year | Health | F-Score | Scored from |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | 4.7 | 4/9 | 10-K, filed Feb 17, 2026 |
| FY2024 | 6.0 | 5/9 | 10-K, filed Feb 18, 2025 |
| FY2023 | 6.0 | 8/9 | 10-K, filed Feb 20, 2024 |
| FY2022 | 6.0 | 6/9 | 10-K, filed Feb 21, 2023 |
| FY2021 | 6.0 | 6/9 | 10-K, filed Feb 22, 2022 |
| FY2020 | 7.3 | 6/9 | 10-K, filed Feb 22, 2021 |
A later restatement never reaches back into an earlier year, and every year is scored without a share price, so the latest point can differ a little from the headline score, which uses today's price.
Every check behind the three models, and what each one tests
4 of 9 checks passed
Nine yes-or-no tests of whether this year's finances improved on last year's.
not reported — Not meaningful for banks, insurers and other financial companies. Their balance sheets have no working capital and are leveraged by design, which this model misreads as distress.
Not meaningful for banks, insurers and other financial companies. Their balance sheets have no working capital and are leveraged by design, which this model misreads as distress.
Distance from bankruptcy, from a model fitted on companies that did and did not go bust. It describes a balance sheet's shape today; it does not forecast a failure.
not reported — Not meaningful for banks, insurers and other financial companies. Their balance sheets have no working capital and are leveraged by design, which this model misreads as distress.
Not meaningful for banks, insurers and other financial companies. Their balance sheets have no working capital and are leveraged by design, which this model misreads as distress.
Screens eight accounting ratios for the pattern earnings manipulators tend to leave. A flag is a reason to read the filing closely, never evidence of wrongdoing.
Every figure above comes from the FY2025 filing as filed with the SEC.
Improved: turned positive
-$490.0M to $4.32BCritical
Why it matters: Cash left after paying for the plant that produced it — the money genuinely available for dividends, buybacks or paying down debt. Harder to flatter than profit.
Deteriorated: turned negative
$6.66 to -$13.57Critical
Why it matters: Profit divided by the shares in issue at the period end, so it sits close to but not on the company's own reported figure. It can rise with no growth in profit when the company buys back stock — read it beside the share count.
Improved: +20.0%
$145.50B to $174.58BSignificant
Why it matters: Sales are what everything else is built on. A fall can be lost customers, lower prices, or a business the company sold — the filing itself says which.
Deteriorated: -16.8%
$17.07B to $14.21BSignificant
Why it matters: What is left of sales after the direct cost of producing them. It normally moves with revenue, so a move out of step with revenue is the part worth noticing.
Deteriorated: −3.6 pts
11.7% to 8.1%Significant
Why it matters: What survives each sale before overheads. Falling gross margin usually means the company is discounting or its input costs rose — it is the earliest place pricing pressure shows.
Deteriorated: −6.6 pts
2.2% to -4.4%Significant
Why it matters: What survives each sale after running the business. A falling operating margin beside a steady gross margin points at overheads — wages, marketing, research — rather than pricing.
Deteriorated: −6.1 pts
2.3% to -3.8%Significant
Why it matters: What survives to the very end of each sale. Worth reading beside revenue: growing sales on a shrinking margin means the company is buying its growth.
Improved: +27.2%
$14.06B to $17.89BSignificant
Why it matters: A falling cash pile is only a warning if the company is consuming it. Paying down debt, buying back stock and paying a dividend all reduce cash by choice.
Changed: +19.1%
$644.0M to $767.0MSignificant
Why it matters: Neither good nor bad on its own. Heavy spending is a company building capacity or a company struggling to stand still, and the two look identical in this figure.
Improved: -5.8%
$18.42B to $17.35BNotable
Why it matters: Rising debt is not automatically bad — borrowing to build something that earns more than the interest is ordinary. It matters when it grows faster than the profit meant to service it.
Q2 FY2026 against Q2 FY2025, from the 10-Q filed Jul 28, 2026 — read it.
Improved: +53.0%
$3.02B to $4.62BCritical
Why it matters: What is left of sales after the direct cost of producing them. It normally moves with revenue, so a move out of step with revenue is the part worth noticing.
Improved: turned positive
-$458.0M to $1.20BCritical
Why it matters: Profit from running the business, before interest and tax. Less exposed than profit to one-off financing and tax items, so a clearer read on the business itself.
Improved: turned positive
-$253.0M to $1.09BCritical
Why it matters: Profit swings far more than sales do, and one-off items — a legal settlement, a tax charge, an asset sale — move it without the underlying business changing.
Improved: turned positive
-$0.52 to $2.21Critical
Why it matters: Profit divided by the shares in issue at the period end, so it sits close to but not on the company's own reported figure. It can rise with no growth in profit when the company buys back stock — read it beside the share count.
Improved: +66.4%
$14.51B to $24.15BCritical
Why it matters: A falling cash pile is only a warning if the company is consuming it. Paying down debt, buying back stock and paying a dividend all reduce cash by choice.
Improved: +3.3 pts
7.1% to 10.4%Significant
Why it matters: What survives each sale before overheads. Falling gross margin usually means the company is discounting or its input costs rose — it is the earliest place pricing pressure shows.
Improved: +3.8 pts
-1.1% to 2.7%Significant
Why it matters: What survives each sale after running the business. A falling operating margin beside a steady gross margin points at overheads — wages, marketing, research — rather than pricing.
Improved: +3.0 pts
-0.6% to 2.5%Significant
Why it matters: What survives to the very end of each sale. Worth reading beside revenue: growing sales on a shrinking margin means the company is buying its growth.
Improved: -8.7%
$17.55B to $16.03BNotable
Why it matters: Rising debt is not automatically bad — borrowing to build something that earns more than the interest is ordinary. It matters when it grows faster than the profit meant to service it.
Q2 FY2026 against Q1 FY2026, from the 10-Q filed Jul 28, 2026 — read it. Quarter-to-quarter moves include seasonal swings — a retailer's holiday quarter — which the year-earlier comparison removes.
Deteriorated: -18.3%
$5.65B to $4.62BSignificant
Why it matters: What is left of sales after the direct cost of producing them. It normally moves with revenue, so a move out of step with revenue is the part worth noticing.
Deteriorated: -35.6%
$1.86B to $1.20BSignificant
Why it matters: Profit from running the business, before interest and tax. Less exposed than profit to one-off financing and tax items, so a clearer read on the business itself.
Deteriorated: -29.2%
$1.54B to $1.09BSignificant
Why it matters: Profit swings far more than sales do, and one-off items — a legal settlement, a tax charge, an asset sale — move it without the underlying business changing.
Deteriorated: -29.2%
$3.12 to $2.21Significant
Why it matters: Profit divided by the shares in issue at the period end, so it sits close to but not on the company's own reported figure. It can rise with no growth in profit when the company buys back stock — read it beside the share count.
Deteriorated: −2.3 pts
12.7% to 10.4%Notable
Why it matters: What survives each sale before overheads. Falling gross margin usually means the company is discounting or its input costs rose — it is the earliest place pricing pressure shows.
Deteriorated: −1.5 pts
4.2% to 2.7%Notable
Why it matters: What survives each sale after running the business. A falling operating margin beside a steady gross margin points at overheads — wages, marketing, research — rather than pricing.
Improved: +13.6%
$21.26B to $24.15BNotable
Why it matters: A falling cash pile is only a warning if the company is consuming it. Paying down debt, buying back stock and paying a dividend all reduce cash by choice.
1 other measure barely moved. Figures compare the two most recent annual filings — read the latest one. Moves are graded on fixed lines — 5%, 15% and 40% for amounts, and 1, 3 and 8 points for margins — as notable, significant or critical. Nothing here reads the management commentary, which is where a company explains its own numbers.
These coincide with the move in time. None is presented as its cause: a price can move on news that names no company, on the wider market, or on trading that no document records.
Filter by minute, hour, day or week — or compare against peers
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Measured on and published about a week later — this is a fortnightly snapshot, not a live position.
About 2.1% of this company's shares have been borrowed and sold by people expecting to buy them back cheaper. That is a bet the price falls. Those people can be wrong, and when a heavily shorted share rises they have to buy it back, which pushes it up further.
Collected by FINRA from broker-dealers twice a month. It counts positions, not intentions, and some of it is hedging rather than a directional bet against the company.
Nothing in this section is a figure this company reported about itself. These are expectations and positions — what the price implies, what analysts have published, what short sellers are betting, and what large funds held at the last count. WylthIQ reports them; it does not endorse them, does not forecast prices, and takes no view on whether any of them will turn out to be right.
Trailing P/E is not meaningful because the latest trailing earnings are zero or negative. The price-to-book and price-to-sales figures below still provide reference points.
Not meaningful for banks, insurers and other financial companies. Their balance sheets have no working capital and are leveraged by design, which this model misreads as distress.
Reported annual figures
| -3.8% |
| — |
| 2.84x |
| UNHUNITEDHEALTH GROUP INC | 6.0/10 | 7/9 | 11.8% | 2.7% | 31.94x | 2.08x |
|---|
| ELVElevance Health, Inc. | 6.0/10 | 6/9 | 12.5% | 2.8% | 17.36x | 1.77x |
|---|
| HUMHUMANA INC | 6.0/10 | 5/8 | 10.1% | 0.9% | 42.75x | 1.77x |
|---|
| MOHMOLINA HEALTHCARE, INC. | 6.0/10 | 4/9 | 11.7% | 1.0% | 23.41x | 2.83x |
|---|
| Median of peers | 6.0/10 | — | 11.8% | 1.9% | 27.67x | 1.92x |
|---|
Peers come from the company's industry classification. A difference describes the companies; it does not rank them.
Was granted or awarded shares — 864 shares
Holds 370,402 shares after this filing.
Was granted or awarded shares — 583 shares
Holds 25,796 shares after this filing.
Was granted or awarded shares — 603 shares
Holds 13,093 shares after this filing.
Was granted or awarded shares — 482 shares
Holds 3,698 shares after this filing.
Had shares withheld to cover taxes — 1,092 shares at $69.41 ($75.8K)
Holds 28,751 shares after this filing.
Sold on the open market — 56,500 shares at $66.90 ($3.8M)
Holds 248,854 shares after this filing.
Notice filed ahead of a planned sale — the sale itself has not necessarily happened yet.
Filed notice to sell 56,500 shares ($3.8M) on or after .
Shares originally obtained via ESPP Purchase.
Filed notice to sell 43,600 shares ($2.8M) on or after .
Shares originally obtained via Restricted Stock Vesting.
Filed notice to sell 47,603 shares ($3.1M) on or after .
Shares originally obtained via Restricted Stock Vesting.
Filed notice to sell 100,000 shares ($6.8M) on or after .
Shares originally obtained via Restricted Stock Vesting.
Not investment advice, and not a signal to act on by itself — a filing says what happened, not why, and insiders trade for ordinary reasons having nothing to do with where they think the company is headed.
Had a director or senior officer leave or join · Made a Regulation FD disclosure
Reported another event
Read the filingHad a director or senior officer leave or join · Published results · Made a Regulation FD disclosure
Read the filingQuarterly report for Q2 FY2026
Operating margin +3.8 pts · Gross profit +53.0% · Operating income turned positive — against Q2 FY2025
Read the filingHad a director or senior officer leave or join · Made a Regulation FD disclosure
Read the filingHad a director or senior officer leave or join · Held a shareholder vote
Read the filingPublished results
Read the filingQuarterly report for Q1 FY2026
Revenue +5.1% · Free cash flow +203.0% · Cash +43.5% — against Q1 FY2025
Read the filingProxy statement for a shareholder meeting
Read the filingHad a director or senior officer leave or join
Read the filingMade a Regulation FD disclosure · Reported another event
Read the filingMade a Regulation FD disclosure
Read the filingAnnual report for FY2025
Revenue +20.0% · Operating margin −6.6 pts · Operating income turned negative — against FY2024
Read the filingPublished results
Read the filingMade a Regulation FD disclosure
Read the filingPublished results
Read the filingQuarterly report for Q3 FY2025
Revenue +21.7% · Operating margin −17.3 pts · Operating income turned negative — against Q3 FY2024
Read the filingMade a Regulation FD disclosure
Read the filingThe first 40 of 247. The rest are in the exhibit.
Source: Exhibit 21 of the 10-K filed 2026-02-17. These are legal entities, not brands or acquisitions — a company that bought a business may hold it inside an entity named here, or inside one small enough that the rule does not require naming it at all.
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