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Minnetonka, Minnesota-based UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (UNH) operates as a diversified healthcare company. With a market cap of $426.6 billion, UnitedHealth provides a range of healthcare products and services and operates through UnitedHealthcare, Optum Health, Optum Insight, and Optum Rx segments.
Companies worth $10 billion or more are generally described as "large-cap stocks," UnitedHealth fits right into that category, with its market cap exceeding this threshold, reflecting its substantial size and influence in the healthcare plans industry. The company serves millions of people and employs hundreds of thousands of people across the globe.
Despite its notable strengths, UnitedHealth stock has tanked 25.7% from its all-time high of $630.73 achieved on Nov. 11, 2024. UNH stock has plummeted nearly 23% over the past three months, underperforming the Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund’s (XLV) 18 basis point gain during the same time frame.
UnitedHealth has underperformed the healthcare sector over the longer term as well. UNH stock dropped 8.7% over the past 52 weeks and 7.4% on a YTD basis compared to XLV’s 33 basis point uptick over the past year and 7% gains in 2025.
To confirm the recent downturn, UNH stock has remained below its 50-day and 200-day moving averages since early December with slight fluctuations.
UnitedHealth Group’s stock plummeted over 6% after the release of its mixed Q4 results on Jan. 16. Although the company reported a significant 6.8% year-over-year growth in total revenues to $100.8 billion, it missed the Street’s expectations by a notable margin, which unsettled investor confidence. However, UnitedHealth delivered an impressive 10.6% year-over-year growth in adjusted earnings to $6.81 per share, which surpassed the consensus estimates by 1.5%.
Furthermore, UnitedHealth gave a solid full-year revenue guidance of $450 billion to $455 billion for fiscal 2025 representing a 12.4% to 13.7% topline growth compared to the year-ago quarter.
When compared to its rival, UnitedHealth has significantly outperformed Elevance Health, Inc.’s (ELV) 22.6% drop over the past year, while lagging behind ELV’s 6.5% gains on a YTD basis.
UNH has a consensus “Strong Buy” rating among the 24 analysts covering the stock. Its mean price target of $639.21 represents a 36.4% premium to current price levels.
