We recently compiled a list of the 10 Best Health Insurance Stocks to Buy. In this article, we are going to take a look at where UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) stands against the other health insurance stocks.
The Healthcare Market: What does the future hold?
2023 posed significant challenges for the healthcare sector as investors adjusted their portfolios to adapt to a higher interest rate environment. This led to the sector underperforming compared to other segments of the equity market, particularly technology and communication services. The disruptive environment has understandably created some anxiety and pessimism about the future. Deloitte’s annual Health Care Outlook Survey reveals that only 3% of health system executives and 7% of health plan executives have a “positive” outlook for 2024, down from 15% and 40%, respectively, marking a significant year-over-year decline.
On the brighter side, the aging baby boomer generation, which constitutes 20% of the U.S. population, is driving a growing demand for healthcare services and products such as insurance, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and hospital care. Projections indicate a notable increase in healthcare spending over the next decade. In the U.S., the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services forecasts a 5.6% annual growth in national health expenditure between 2023 and 2032. Similarly, in OECD countries, healthcare spending as a percentage of GDP is expected to rise from 8.8% to 10.2% by 2030. Alongside aging populations, the expanding middle class in emerging markets will also contribute to heightened demand for healthcare services.
One of the biggest news stories of the year was the rise of GLP-1 drugs as weight loss treatments, leading to significant outperformance by leading developers Eli Lilly & Company and Novo Nordisk (NVO) compared to their peers. Conversely, many companies experienced a severe downturn due to the post-COVID revenue drop, after vaccine and therapeutic sales neared $100 billion in 2022, resulting in challenging year-over-year comparisons. On another front, BlackRock, Inc. projects that the healthcare sector will have the highest 12-month forward earnings growth across all sectors on a year-on-year basis, with sales growth trailing only the consumer discretionary and information technology sectors.
The State of Health Insurance
Health insurance remains a prominent issue, especially in the United States. In 2022, over 300 million Americans, approximately 92% of the population, had health insurance. While the U.S. healthcare system features a blend of public and private insurers, private insurance comes out on top as the predominant form of coverage. That same year, more than half of insured individuals received private insurance through their employer, while approximately 36% were covered by public insurance programs like Medicare and Medicaid.
As of 2023, the US health insurance exchanges, created under the Affordable Care Act in 2014, market their tenth year of operation. Throughout this decade, the individual market has remained interesting, to say the least, having experienced annual fluctuations in insurer participation, pricing, and plan options. According to McKinsey, consumer engagement significantly increased by 25% from 2020 to 2022, reaching approximately 16 million participants, thus aligning with the enhanced subsidies introduced by the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.
The global health insurance industry is poised for substantial growth in the coming years. According to a report, the global health insurance market is projected to achieve a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 9.9% from 2022 to 2030, reaching a market value of $5.28 trillion by 2030.
Insurance house, car and family health live concept. The insurance agent presents the toys that symbolize the coverage.
Our Methodology
To compile our list of the best health insurance stocks to buy, we sifted through multiple ETFs and internet rankings. We then analyzed Insider Monkey’s Q1 2024 database to select the stocks that were the most widely held by hedge funds. The following companies, ranked by the number of hedge funds holding their shares, provide health insurance services within the United States and/or internationally. Why do we care about what hedge funds do? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points (see more details here).
A senior healthcare professional giving advice to a patient in a clinic.
UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 104
UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH), headquartered in Minnetonka, Minnesota, is a leading American multinational corporation specializing in managed healthcare and insurance services. It operates as a for-profit entity and is divided into four segments: UnitedHealthcare, Optum Health, Optum Insight, and Optum Rx.
Financial institutions are keeping a close eye on UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)’s performance, with analysts predicting continued growth and profitability. Notably, Piper Sandler recently maintained an Overweight rating on UNH shares, highlighting a positive outlook for the company’s expansion in the Medicare Advantage sector.
In Q1 2024, Insider Monkey’s research revealed that 104 hedge funds held stakes in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH). The largest stakeholder was Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management, with a $1.4 billion investment.
Despite its strong performance, UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) has faced challenges, including a cyberattack on its technology unit that exploited a vulnerability in Citrix software. Additionally, UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) recently reported issues with Medicaid enrollment, which has caused disruptions in reimbursement rates and led to an overall decline in health insurer stocks.
Baron Funds stated the following regarding UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) in its first quarter 2024 investor letter:
“UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) is a leading health insurance company that operates across four segments: United Healthcare, Optum Health, OptumInsight, and OptumRX. Shares fell alongside other managed care organizations (MCOs) due to patient utilization of Medicare Advantage (MA) that was higher than consensus forecasts, raising concerns that MCOs had mispriced 2024 bids and could suffer margin compression as a result. In addition, the industry is facing headwinds from MA reimbursement cuts and Star Rating changes. While management said higher cost trends are mostly transitory and reflected in its bidding, and 2024 guidance was roughly in line with consensus, investors took a more cautious wait-and-see approach. We believe UnitedHealth should remain a core portfolio holding, as it is a way to play positive demographic, population health, and value-based reimbursement trends. Despite its size, we think the company should be able to grow earnings consistent with its 13% to 16% long-term EPS annual target, the fastest among major MCOs.”
Overall UNH ranks 1st on our list of the best health insurance stocks to buy. You can visit 10 Best Health Insurance Stocks to Buy to see the other health insurance stocks that are on hedge funds’ radar. While we acknowledge the potential of UNH as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than UNH but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.