UnitedHealth under criminal investigation for possible fraud + Borussia Dortmund continues to rise ahead of final match day + Scout24 at record high + Bayer wants further Roundup settlements and is reviewing Monsanto bankruptcy petition
UnitedHealth $UNH (+4,71%)under criminal investigation by the US Department of Justice for possible fraud in connection with Medicare
- UnitedHealth Group (UNH) is facing a criminal investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice for possible fraud related to its Medicare Advantage business, according to the Wall Street Journal.
- The investigation, led by the Justice Department's health care fraud division in New York, has been ongoing since at least mid-2023 and complements ongoing civil and antitrust investigations into the company, the news agency reported.
- The WSJ quoted UnitedHealth as saying that the company had not been informed of the criminal investigation and stands by the integrity of its Medicare Advantage program.
- An earlier civil case against UnitedHealth related to allegedly unfounded diagnoses is reportedly still pending before a judge, although a court-appointed special master has recommended dismissal of the case.
- UnitedHealth and the DOJ did not immediately respond to MT Newswires' request for comment.
- It is alleged that the company systematically upcoded diagnoses in order to receive higher payments from Medicare.
- Medicare Advantage plans pay insurers a fixed amount per enrollee, with additional payments for patients with more severe or more diagnoses.
- UnitedHealth allegedly took advantage of this and provided healthy insureds with non-existent or exaggerated diagnoses in order to collect these additional payments.
- But that's not all: the DOJ has also opened an investigation into antitrust violations.
- The investigation focuses on the links between the insurance division UnitedHealthcare and its subsidiary Optum as well as the impact of acquisitions of physician groups on competition and consumers.
- UnitedHealth is also alleged to have used faulty AI to process benefits.
- The error rate of this is said to have been 90 percent. As a result, a number of claims were wrongly rejected.
- UnitedHealth shares fell by more than 6.4% on Thursday before the start of trading.
Borussia Dortmund $BVB (+2,97%)continue to rise ahead of last match day
- The shares of Borussia Dortmund reached another high since August on Thursday at 3.84 euros.
- Investors are optimistic going into the decisive final matchday of the Bundesliga season and are banking on the club reaching the Champions League, which is so important both financially and in sporting terms.
- As rivals Freiburg and Frankfurt will meet at the very end of the season, thus taking important points away from each other, a conciliatory end to the disappointing season is quite realistic for BVB.
- The prerequisite is that Borussia win their home game - as convincingly as possible - against Kiel, who have already been relegated.
- BVB sporting director Sebastian Kehl's statements on squad planning may also have provided some reassurance for investors.
- "We certainly won't be making five or six top transfers - in case anyone thinks that," Kehl told "Kicker".
Scout24 $G24 (-0,81%)at record high - JPMorgan very optimistic
- Scout24 shares reached another record high of EUR 112.50 on Thursday.
- This means that the shares of the Internet portal operator have gained 32 percent in the current year.
- With a place on the "Analyst Focus List", they are now among the favorites of the investment bank JPMorgan.
- Analyst Marcus Diebel has raised his price target significantly to 141 euros and shows investors how, in the best-case scenario, even 165 euros could be possible.
- Namely, if the operating margin in 2028 is not "only" 66% as in the base scenario, but even an ambitious 71%.
- Diebel also emphasized the dividend potential that beckons thanks to strong cash flow.
Bayer $BAYN (+0,05%)wants further Roundup settlements and examines Monsanto bankruptcy petition
- Bayer is making a further push to settle lawsuits linking the popular weedkiller Roundup to cancer, while also considering a bankruptcy filing for its Monsanto agricultural business in case the settlement plan fails, according to people familiar with the matter.
- According to people familiar with the matter, Bayer plans to settle some of the class action lawsuits against Roundup in a Missouri court, where most of the lawsuits are pending.
- Given the difficulties in resolving the Roundup litigation in the civil courts, the German pharmaceutical and agricultural company is preparing a bankruptcy petition for Monsanto, the US manufacturer of the weedkiller, as another option.
- Bayer has hired restructuring consultants from the law firm Latham & Watkins and the consulting firm Alixpartners to examine its options, the informants added.
- Filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection would halt the lawsuits against Monsanto and pave the way for Bayer's share of Roundup liability to be resolved in bankruptcy court.
- Bayer and Alixpartners declined to comment. Latham was unavailable for comment at short notice.
Friday: Stock market dates, economic data, quarterly figures
Small expiry day
- ex-dividend of individual stocks
- E.ON SE € 0.55
- adidas AG € 2.00
- Heidelberg Materials AG € 3.30
- Commerzbank AG € 0.65
- Starbucks Corp $0.61
- Tencent Holdings Ltd HK$ 4.50
- Amgen Inc $2.38
- Eli Lilly and Co $1.50
- Quarterly figures / company dates Europe
- 07:00 Swiss Re Quarterly figures
- 07:30 Richemont annual results
- 09:00 Michelin AGM
- 10:00 Hella | Volkswagen | Elringklinger | Jost | Wienerberger | Thales AGM
- 11:00 TAG Immobilien | Dürr AGM
- 14:00 Biontech AGM
- Economic data
01:50 JP: GDP (1st release) 1Q FORECAST: -0.1% yoy previous: +0.7% yoy
07:30 FR: Unemployment rate 1Q FORECAST: 7.5% 4th quarter: 7.3%
14:30 US: Housing starts/permits April housing starts PROGNOSE: +2.7% yoy previous: -11.4% yoy Building Permits PROGNOSE: -2.2% yoy previous: +1.6% yoy
14:30 US: Import and Export Prices April Import Prices PROGNOSE: -0.4% yoy previous: -0.1% yoy
16:00 US: Consumer Sentiment Index Uni Michigan (1st survey) May FORECAST: 53.5 previous: 52.2
