BUZZ-PREVIEW: UnitedHealth seen posting 9.1% year-on-year EPS growth

** Unitedhealth's UNH.N shares slightly higher ahead of Q4 financial report due out before the opening bell on Thursday

** Health insurance co is expected to report adj EPS of $6.72, or a 9.1% y/y increase, on rev of $101.76 bln vs $94.43 billion in the year-ago qtr, according to data compiled by LSEG

** UNH has beat/met consensus EPS estimates every qtr going back at least to Q1 2019

** On Dec 4, CEO Brian Thomson was killed outside a Manhattan hotel, prompting a manhunt which led to the arrest of suspect Luigi Mangione five days later; UNH's shares plunged as much as 20.5% by the time they troughed on Dec. 17

** On Dec 3, UNH forecast adj 2025 profit in line with analysts' estimates

** Of the 30 analysts who cover UNH, 27 rate stock "buy" or "strong buy"; remaining three say "hold"; median PT $642.50 vs current price of $545.25

** UNH options imply a 3.7% swing for the shares, in either direction, on Thursday, according to options analytics service ORATS; that's bang in line with the stock's average earnings day move over the last 12 qtrs

** YTD shares in UNH up >7% vs >2% gain for S&P 500 healthcare index .SPXHC and >1.5% increase for the Dow Industrials .DJI

(Reporting by Stephen Culp; additional reporting by Saqib Ahmed)

((stephen.culp@thomsonreuters.com; 646-223-6076))