Health insurance company Oscar Health (NYSE:OSCR) missed Wall Street’s revenue expectations in Q1 CY2026, but sales rose 52.6% year on year to $4.65 billion. Its GAAP profit of $2.07 per share was 75.1% above analysts’ consensus estimates.
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Oscar Health (OSCR) Q1 CY2026 Highlights:
- Revenue: $4.65 billion vs analyst estimates of $4.93 billion (52.6% year-on-year growth, 5.7% miss)
- EPS (GAAP): $2.07 vs analyst estimates of $1.18 (75.1% beat)
- Adjusted EBITDA: $727.1 million vs analyst estimates of $513.9 million (15.6% margin, 41.5% beat)
- Operating Margin: 15.2%, up from 9.8% in the same quarter last year
- Free Cash Flow Margin: 56.2%, up from 28.5% in the same quarter last year
- Market Capitalization: $5.40 billion
Company Overview
Founded in 2012 to simplify the notoriously complex American healthcare system, Oscar Health (NYSE:OSCR) is a technology-focused health insurance company that offers individual and small group health plans through its cloud-native platform.
Revenue Growth
A company’s long-term performance is an indicator of its overall quality. Any business can experience short-term success, but top-performing ones enjoy sustained growth for years. Luckily, Oscar Health’s sales grew at an incredible 49.6% compounded annual growth rate over the last five years. Its growth surpassed the average healthcare company and shows its offerings resonate with customers, a great starting point for our analysis.
We at StockStory place the most emphasis on long-term growth, but within healthcare, a half-decade historical view may miss recent innovations or disruptive industry trends. Oscar Health’s annualized revenue growth of 42.6% over the last two years is below its five-year trend, but we still think the results suggest healthy demand. 
This quarter, Oscar Health achieved a magnificent 52.6% year-on-year revenue growth rate, but its $4.65 billion of revenue fell short of Wall Street’s lofty estimates.
Looking ahead, sell-side analysts expect revenue to grow 41.6% over the next 12 months, similar to its two-year rate. This projection is eye-popping for a company of its scale and implies the market is baking in success for its products and services.
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Adjusted Operating Margin
Adjusted operating margin is one of the best measures of profitability because it tells us how much money a company takes home after subtracting all core expenses, like marketing and R&D. It also removes various one-time costs to paint a better picture of normalized profits.
Although Oscar Health was profitable this quarter from an operational perspective, it’s generally struggled over a longer time period. Its expensive cost structure has contributed to an average adjusted operating margin of negative 2.4% over the last five years. Unprofitable healthcare companies require extra attention because they could get caught swimming naked when the tide goes out.
On the plus side, Oscar Health’s adjusted operating margin rose by 16.3 percentage points over the last five years, as its sales growth gave it operating leverage. Still, it will take much more for the company to show consistent profitability.
In Q1, Oscar Health generated an adjusted operating margin profit margin of 15.5%, up 5.7 percentage points year on year. This increase was a welcome development and shows it was more efficient.
Earnings Per Share
We track the long-term change in earnings per share (EPS) for the same reason as long-term revenue growth. Compared to revenue, however, EPS highlights whether a company’s growth is profitable.
Although Oscar Health’s full-year earnings are still negative, it reduced its losses and improved its EPS by 44.5% annually over the last five years. The next few quarters will be critical for assessing its long-term profitability. We hope to see an inflection point soon.
In Q1, Oscar Health reported EPS of $2.07, up from $0.90 in the same quarter last year. This print easily cleared analysts’ estimates, and shareholders should be content with the results. Over the next 12 months, Wall Street is optimistic. Analysts forecast Oscar Health’s full-year EPS of negative $0.60 will flip to positive $1.02.
Key Takeaways from Oscar Health’s Q1 Results
It was good to see Oscar Health beat analysts’ EPS expectations this quarter. On the other hand, its revenue missed. Overall, this was a weaker quarter. The stock traded up 12% to $20.10 immediately following the results.
Is Oscar Health an attractive investment opportunity at the current price? When making that decision, it’s important to consider its valuation, business qualities, as well as what has happened in the latest quarter. We cover that in our actionable full research report which you can read here (it’s free).