2025 has been a year that UnitedHealth Group shareholders probably want to forget.
However, the health insurance giant should see brighter days ahead.
The issues plaguing UnitedHealth Group should only be temporary in nature.
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It’s inaccurate to call the largest health insurer in the country and the fourth-largest healthcare company by market cap an underdog. However, UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH) looked more like an underdog in 2025 than it has in quite a while.
Shares of the healthcare giant are still down more than 30% year to date, after plunging as much as 53% at one point. Should investors avoid this beaten-down stock? Nope. I predict that UnitedHealth Group stock will soar in 2026.
Image source: Getty Images.
Admittedly, 2025 is a year that most UnitedHealth Group shareholders will probably want to forget. The health insurance stock could have been a poster child for Murphy’s Law: Nearly everything that could go wrong did go wrong.
UnitedHealth Group lowered its 2025 full-year earnings guidance in April. The company highlighted two primary culprits: higher-than-expected utilization in its Medicare Advantage plans and “unanticipated changes in the profile of Optum Health members impacting planned 2025 reimbursement.”
The situation worsened less than a month later. UnitedHealth suspended its 2025 outlook altogether due to medical costs rising significantly more than anticipated. CEO Andrew Witty also unexpectedly left the company “for personal reasons.”
To add insult to injury, The Wall Street Journal reported that UnitedHealth was the subject of a U.S. Department of Justice criminal investigation. Although the DOJ had not contacted the company at that point, the reports ultimately proved to be accurate.
With all of this bad news, why do I think UnitedHealth Group stock will soar in 2026? I believe that the issues plaguing UnitedHealth are only temporary in nature.
Health insurers have an easy solution when medical costs exceed their projections: increase…
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