UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (UNH) WACC Calculator

Frequently asked questions

• How do you calculate WACC?

  WACC = (E/V) × Re + (D/V) × Rd × (1 − Tc), where E is the market value of equity (market cap), D is total debt, V = E + D, Re is the cost of equity, Rd is the cost of debt (interest expense divided by total debt) and Tc is the effective tax rate. This calculator pre-fills E, D, Rd and Tc from the company's latest trailing-twelve-month filings and lets you edit every input.

• What does a WACC of 12% mean?

  It means the company's investors (shareholders and lenders combined) require roughly a 12% annual return for financing the business. Projects or acquisitions earning less than 12% destroy value for them; anything above it creates value. It is also the discount rate most analysts would apply to that company's future cash flows in a DCF.

• What is a good WACC to have?

  Lower is cheaper financing, but 'good' depends on the business. Large, stable companies often have a WACC of 6–9%, while riskier or smaller companies can exceed 12%. What matters most is the spread between the return on invested capital (ROIC) and WACC: a company earning 15% on capital that costs 8% is compounding value.

• Why is WACC important for valuation?

  WACC is the discount rate in a discounted cash flow (DCF) valuation: future cash flows are worth less today the higher the WACC. A one-point change in WACC can move a DCF fair value by 15–25%, which is why it pays to use the company's real capital structure and tax rate instead of a generic assumption.

• How do I find the beta to use in a WACC calculation?

  Beta measures how much a stock moves relative to the market and is typically estimated by regressing five years of monthly returns against an index like the S&P 500. Most data providers publish it on their quote pages. In this calculator beta is an editable input: 1.0 is the market average, defensive businesses sit below 1 and cyclical ones above.

• Why use market values rather than book values in WACC?

  Because WACC estimates what financing costs today. The market value of equity (market cap) reflects the price at which the company could actually raise equity now, while book equity reflects historical accounting values. Debt is usually taken at book value as a practical approximation of its market value.

• How does WACC relate to the discount rate in DCF valuation?

  They are usually the same number when valuing the whole enterprise: the DCF discounts unlevered free cash flows at WACC. If you value equity directly (dividends or free cash flow to equity), the right discount rate is the cost of equity alone, not WACC.

• What are the limitations of WACC?

  WACC assumes the capital structure and risk profile stay constant, relies on an estimated beta and equity risk premium, and treats today's tax rate as permanent. For companies with changing leverage, negative earnings or unusual tax situations, treat the output as a starting range and test how sensitive your valuation is to it.