NEW YORK, June 4, 2026, 15:03 EDT
- Oscar Health stock gained roughly 15% after Wells Fargo raised its rating to Equal Weight from Underweight.
- The upgrade was based on improved 2026 health-exchange trends, but the bank cautioned visibility past this year is still limited.
- The move was ahead of Centene, Elevance, and UnitedHealth as managed-care stocks traded up.
Oscar Health stock popped Thursday afternoon after Wells Fargo scrapped its bearish view on the health insurer. The bank said the 2026 individual exchange market doesn’t seem as stressed as it once thought.
The stock gained 15.5% to $23.68, just under its session high of $23.71. About 7.5 million shares changed hands. Shares finished at $20.50 on Wednesday.
Oscar Health (OSCR) got an upgrade from Wells Fargo’s Stephen Baxter, who moved the stock to Equal Weight from Underweight. He also hiked his price target to $20, up from $11. Equal Weight is a neutral call. Underweight had been bearish. Baxter said Wells is now “increasingly comfortable” with Oscar’s exchange-market direction for 2026, but said “visibility remains low beyond that.” StreetInsider.com
Oscar’s fortunes track the Affordable Care Act marketplace. That’s where individual health plans are bought. CMS reported 23.1 million people either picked or were auto-renewed into exchange plans in the 2026 open-enrollment period. That’s a 5% drop from 2025. Any signal that enrollment or claims are steady can push the stock.
Oscar’s latest earnings gave investors a reset. On May 6, the company said first-quarter revenue hit $4.65 billion, up from $3.05 billion the year before. Net income attributable to Oscar jumped to $679.0 million from $275.3 million. Membership climbed too, reaching 3.17 million, up from 2.04 million. Medical loss ratio came in at 70.5%, down from 75.4%.
Baxter’s note looked at Florida, where Oscar gets about 64% of its premiums. He said membership in the state dropped 13.5% year over year, but medical loss ratios got better by 370 basis points, or 3.7 percentage points. Baxter said there may be some conservatism in risk adjustment, the ACA rule that moves funds between insurers by expected member cost.
Oscar jumped as managed-care stocks caught a bid, though it outpaced the group by a wide margin. Centene gained 5.3%, Elevance finished 4.6% higher, and UnitedHealth rose 4.9%. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF edged up around 0.5%. QQQ was a bit lower.
Governance was part of the story. Oscar ran its 2026 annual meeting online at 10 a.m. Eastern time on Thursday. Shareholders voted on eight board nominees, executive compensation, and keeping PricewaterhouseCoopers as auditor. The company said the final vote count will be disclosed later in a Form 8-K.
Siddhartha Sankaran is now independent chair after the meeting. Oscar announced the move in April. CEO Mark Bertolini said, “The individual market is the future of healthcare for millions of consumers and businesses.” Sankaran called it “a pivotal moment” for healthcare. Oscar Health Investor Relations
Oscar Health’s late Sunday showed co-founder Mario Schlosser stepped down as president of technology and CTO on June 1. Schlosser is now co-founder and adviser to the CEO. He will remain on the board, the company said, and focus on AI and digital health projects. Under the new agreement Schlosser’s base salary is $370,000, with no annual bonus or new equity awards.
But risk hasn’t disappeared. Oscar said in its latest quarterly filing that enhanced premium tax credits run out at the end of 2025, which could make coverage too pricey for some and cut marketplace signups and company membership after the 2026 enrollment period. The company also flagged that tighter program-integrity rules and other policy changes could shrink the market, worsen member mix, and raise pressure from medical costs or risk-adjustment estimates.
Oscar shares traded above Wells Fargo’s new $20 target, showing traders are pricing in more near-term stability for the exchange compared to yesterday. But the 2027 question is still open. The focus turns to claims, enrollment, and what analysts do next.
