Centene Corporation filed its 10-Q with the SEC, and its figures are now in our data. Revenue over the twelve months to Q3 2026 was $203.9 billion, which rose 9.7% on the year before. That growth rate was down 4.2 percentage points on the rate a quarter earlier.
Source: SEC EDGAR XBRL company facts. Latest period shown: FY26 Q3.
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| Period | Revenue growth, TTM YoY | Operating margin (TTM) | FCF margin (TTM) |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY24 Q4 | 5.9% | 1.9% | -0.3% |
| FY25 Q1 | 8.9% | 2.1% | 0.9% |
| FY25 Q2 | 13.0% | 1.1% | 0.6% |
| FY25 Q3 | 14.9% | -3.1% | 1.8% |
| FY25 Q4 | 19.4% | -3.9% | 2.2% |
| FY26 Q1 | 17.0% | -3.7% | 3.6% |
| FY26 Q2 | 13.9% | -2.8% | 4.4% |
| FY26 Q3 | 9.7% | 0.5% | 1.9% |
What stands out in the filings
Net income fell 27.2% over the year while free cash flow rose 17.5%, meaning reported profit and cash are moving at different speeds.
Profit and margins
Reported cash is holding up better than reported profit. The trailing gross margin was 7.9%. The trailing operating margin was 0.5%, up 3.6 percentage points from a year earlier, alongside a trailing net margin of 0.7%. Net income over the twelve months was $1.5 billion, which fell 27.2% on the year before.
Cash flow
Cash generation improved. Operating cash flow over the twelve months was $4.7 billion, up 16.2% on the year before, while capital spending was $781.0 million, or 0.4% of revenue. Free cash flow, operating cash flow less capital spending, was $3.9 billion, up 17.5% on the year before. This represented a free-cash-flow margin of 1.9%, up 0.1 percentage points from a year earlier.
Share count
The average diluted share count fell 0.4% over the year.
How today compares
In the context of past results, today’s free-cash-flow margin of 1.9% is higher than 32% of the company’s own past quarterly readings, which have ranged from −1.0% to 6.8%. Today’s operating margin of 0.5% is higher than 8% of past readings (−3.9% to 3.8%). Today’s twelve-month revenue growth rate of 9.7% is higher than 15% of past readings (5.9% to 84.6%).
Guidance
The company raised its full year 2026 guidance for total revenues to a range of $193.5 billion to $197.5 billion, and for investment and other income to $1.5 billion. The company gave its full year 2026 guidance for effective tax rate of 26.5% to 27.5%, and for severance costs due to enterprise optimization and contract exits (excluded from adjusted SG&A expense ratio) of $355.0 million to $405.0 million.
What it means for our valuation
These trends feed directly into what the shares are worth in our model. In our model, growth 5 percentage points lower would lower the value by 23.6%, and 5 percentage points higher would raise it by 30.7%. A free-cash-flow margin 1 percentage point lower would lower it by 43.9%.
What to watch
The next filing will show whether the trends above continue, slow or reverse.
