Is CENTENE CORP (CNC) undervalued?
CENTENE CORP has no meaningful price/earnings ratio: earnings per share were negative in the year to 2025-12-31, so a price/earnings ratio has no meaning.
Earnings figures are measured from CNC’s filed annual accounts, not estimated. PEG compares price to earnings growth alone — it says nothing about debt, cash generation, or what an acquirer would pay. Read it alongside the figures below rather than on its own.
Not available — requires positive earnings and a growth estimate.
What it would cost to buy CNC
Enterprise value is not shown for CNC: enterprise value is not meaningful for banks and insurers, whose debt is an operating input rather than financing.
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Diluted earnings per shareto 2025-12-31 | $-13.53 |
| P/E ratio | — |
| Earnings growth | — |
| PEG ratio | — |
| Market capitalisationto 2026-07-24 | $34.05B |
| Total debtto 2026-06-30 | $16.11B |
| Net debtto 2026-06-30 | −$10.95B |
| Enterprise value | — |
| EBITDAto 2025-12-31 | −$6.35B |
| Free cash flowto 2025-12-31 | $4.32B |
| EV / EBITDA | — |
| EV / Sales | — |
| Free cash flow yieldto 2025-12-31 | 12.7% |
| Net debt / EBITDA | — |
| Return on capital employedto 2025-12-31 | −19.7% |
Earnings growth is measured across CENTENE CORP’s own filed annual accounts. PEG conventionally uses forecast growth from analyst estimates; filings contain only history, so this is trailing growth and will read differently from a PEG quoted elsewhere.
Not shown, and why
- P/E ratio
- earnings per share were negative in the year to 2025-12-31, so a price/earnings ratio has no meaning.
- Earnings growth
- earnings were negative in the year to 2025-12-31, so a growth rate has no meaning.
- PEG ratio
- earnings per share were negative in the year to 2025-12-31, so a price/earnings ratio has no meaning.
- Enterprise value
- enterprise value is not meaningful for banks and insurers, whose debt is an operating input rather than financing.
- EV / EBITDA
- enterprise value is not meaningful for banks and insurers, whose debt is an operating input rather than financing.
- EV / Sales
- enterprise value is not meaningful for banks and insurers, whose debt is an operating input rather than financing.
- Net debt / EBITDA
- EBITDA was negative or zero in the period, so the multiple has no meaning.
Against the sector
CNC against 4 listed companies sharing its classification — Hospital & Medical Service Plans. A multiple means little on its own; the column that matters is the gap. See what health insurers trade on.
| Measure | CNC | Sector median | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Return on capital employed | −19.7% | 10.0% | −29.8% |
| Operating margin | −4.4% | 3.5% | −7.8% |
| Free cash flow margin | 2.5% | 2.4% | +0.1% |
Medians are taken across peers where the measure could be computed, so the sample differs by row. Green marks the direction conventionally read as cheaper or stronger — it is a direction, not a recommendation.
Market ratios
Price-based ratios from market data. Anything drawn from a filed statement is in the enterprise-value section above, with its source.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Price | $68.93 |
| PEGY ratio | — |
| Dividend yield | 0.00% |
| Price / book | — |
| Price / sales | — |
| Return on equity | -20.4% |
| Profit margin | — |
| Operating margin | — |
| Debt / equity | 71.38 |
| Current ratio | — |
| Beta | 1.12 |
| 52-week range | $31.63 – $69.36 |
Not reported for CNC: pegy ratio, price / book, price / sales, profit margin, operating margin, current ratio. A dash means the figure was not available from the source, not that it is zero.
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About CNC’s valuation
- What is the PEG ratio for CENTENE CORP (CNC)?
- CENTENE CORP has a PEG ratio of —, from a P/E of — and earnings growth of — a year. Note that PEG is conventionally quoted against forecast growth; this uses reported history, so it will differ from a PEG you see elsewhere.
- Is CNC undervalued right now?
- That depends on the measure. On PEG, CNC reads —. The PEG ratio compares price to earnings growth alone — it ignores debt, cash generation and asset backing, so it is a starting point rather than a conclusion. The enterprise-value measures above account for debt and cash; they often tell a different story.
- What is the PEGY ratio for CNC?
- The PEGY ratio for CENTENE CORP is —. PEGY adds the dividend yield of 0.00% to the growth rate in the denominator, which gives a fairer reading of companies returning cash as income rather than growth.
- Where do these CNC figures come from?
- Market price and capitalisation come from live market data; earnings, growth and dividend figures come from CENTENE CORP's published financial statements. Every derived ratio on this page shows the arithmetic that produced it.
This page describes published financial data. It is not investment advice and makes no recommendation to buy or sell CNC.