Despite their stock underperforming in the last six months, health insurers took back the lead from their hospital peers, according to Bloomberg.
Here are four things to know:
1. Health insurer stocks tumbled as much as 5 percent in the first six months of fiscal year 2018. However, their stock value is once again rising as deals in the industry close and as hospital stocks sink.
2. Hospitals benefited from a harsh flu season. In some cases, the flood of sick patients helped raise hospital stock value by more than 25 percent.
3. The historical trend is that managed-care stocks, or insurers, outperform hospital stocks. Analysts predicted earlier this year that the long-term trend would return, despite hospital stocks outranking insurers early this year.
4. The move back to historical trends comes just in time for second-quarter earnings season. UnitedHealth Group kicks off second-quarter earnings July 17. Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Healthcare is the first hospital company scheduled to report its earnings, which are expected July 25.
Read the full Bloomberg report here.