The final trades of the day with CNBC's Melissa Lee and the Fast Money traders.
The investment comes as UnitedHealth faces soaring medical costs, federal investigations, the fallout of the killing of a top executive and a cyberattack last year.
Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway reveals new stake in beleaguered insurer UnitedHealth
Investors often turn to recommendations made by Wall Street analysts before making a Buy, Sell, or Hold decision about a stock. While media reports about rating changes by these brokerage-firm employed (or sell-side) analysts often affect a stock's price, do they really matter?
UNH's $3.3B Amedisys deal will likely clear DOJ hurdles with divestitures, aiming to tap fast-growing home healthcare amid rising cost pressures.
UnitedHealth Group Incorporated is down 56% in a year — yet insiders and big funds are loading up. Q2 earnings disappointed, but new guidance and cost cuts could mark a turning point. My bearish valuation still points to nearly 30% upside for UNH from here.
UNH's valuation is now quite modest after severe earnings cuts and negative headlines, offering a good margin of safety for long-term investors. The worst appears priced in; 2025 will be rough, but a recovery is expected with meaningful improvement by 2027 as margins and EPS growth normalize. Key strengths remain: scale, diversification, and Optum's value, but management must fix Medicare Advantage modeling and Optum Health profitability issues.
UNH's Q2 earnings revealed further weakness with margins at both insurance and Optum plunging to multi-year lows while sales continued to grow at double-digits. Reestablished outlook implies no recovery in profitability during H2 with guided EPS of $16 putting shares at a ~16x fwd P/E, a 3 turn premium to peers. Admitting we have underestimated current challenges, we now see fair value around $275 considering different scenarios for FY26.
I reiterate my bullish rating on UNH, supported by strong membership growth and innovative cost-cutting strategies like AI efficiencies and private-label initiatives. UNH is prioritizing affordability and customer retention over aggressive price hikes, leveraging AI and private-label (Nuvaila) to pass cost savings to consumers. Despite recent stock declines and rising medical costs, I project double-digit revenue growth through 2025, with significant upside potential based on valuation metrics.
UNH's Q2 was disastrous, with missed earnings, rising medical costs, and sharply lowered guidance, deepening market pessimism and uncertainty. Despite negative headlines, the stock's valuation is now compelling, with forward P/E ratios at multi-year lows and expectations set very conservatively. UNH's structural advantages, management's reform focus, and potential for execution improvement support a contrarian, medium-term upside thesis.
UNH plunges 12.9% after weak Q2 and slashing 2025 EPS guidance, sparking fears of deeper structural issues ahead.
Zacks.com users have recently been watching UnitedHealth (UNH) quite a bit. Thus, it is worth knowing the facts that could determine the stock's prospects.