UnitedHealth Group Inc (UNH) stock analysis
UnitedHealth Group Inc (UNH) clears 7 of this site's 8 mechanical value filters, 4 of 8 Buffett-style checks and 1 of 5 Lynch-style checks. At $424.98 it trades 2.5% below this site's neutral DCF value (a margin of safety of +2.5%). Its earnings quality rates Strong and it returns +3.3% to shareholders net of dilution. Figures are as of October 23, 2026, from SEC filings and market data refreshed weekly; this is educational analysis, not investment advice.
Data as of October 23, 2026. Refreshed weekly from SEC filings and market data.
What does UnitedHealth Group do?
UnitedHealth Group owns the largest US health insurer, UnitedHealthcare, and Optum, a health-services business covering pharmacy benefits, care delivery and data services. It earns insurance premiums and service fees.
Brands and businesses it owns
- UnitedHealthcare
- Optum
- OptumRx
- Optum Health
- Optum Insight
What stands out about UnitedHealth Group?
- The share price implies 7.4% yearly growth. At $424.98, UNH's free cash flow of $25.52 per share would have to grow 7.4% a year, fading to 2.5% by year 10, for this site's DCF (10% discount rate) to match the price. This site's baseline starts at 8%, so the price asks for less growth than the baseline. Change the assumptions.
- Misses 1 of the 8 value filters. It fails vs 200-day MA (±12%) (+17.8%); the other 7 pass. See every filter.
- The margin of safety is falling. It went from +15% on Oct 7 to +2% on Oct 23 across 5 weekly readings. See the trend.
- Close to its 52-week high. At $424.98, UNH is within 2.6% of its high of $436.35, 64.1% above its low of $259.02. See the range.
- Weakest against peers: revenue growth. At 3.3% (peer median 8.6%) it ranks 32nd of 34 among health care stocks this site tracks. See the ranking.
How has UnitedHealth Group's share price moved?
The interactive price chart needs JavaScript.
Is UnitedHealth Group undervalued? The value diligence check
Every value-investing signal this site computes for this stock, gathered in one place: the same real numbers from the tools below, not a new score.
- Margin of safety (DCF) +2.5%
- P/E vs. its own history 24.0x · near the cheap end Real range: 22.1x–32.6x over 5 years (net income per diluted share from each fiscal year's 10-K, paired with the real closing price at that fiscal year-end).
- Wall St. analyst rating Buy · 4.03/5 33 analysts this month: 8 strong buy, 18 buy, 7 hold, 0 sell, 0 strong sell (Finnhub).
- Altman Z″-Score (bankruptcy risk) 1.42 · Grey zone
- Earnings quality (is the profit real?) Strong · all 5 checks clean Beneish M-score −2.58 · accruals −2.5% of assets · 149% of profit arrived as cash · stock comp 0.2% of revenue · share count −1.4% a year. From the latest 10-K (year to Dec 2025) - see the Earnings Quality Screener for how each check is scored.
- Shareholder yield (cash back to owners) +3.3% net Latest fiscal year (2025): dividends 2.1% + buybacks 1.5% − stock comp 0.3%, as a share of today's market cap. Over 14 years its split-adjusted share count fell 16%. See Shareholder Yield Leaders.
- Capital needed to grow (See's test) $3.74 per $1 of new profit · Capital-hungry Operating profit $15B → $28B, capital needed $45B → $93B, 2016–2025 (3-year averages); return on capital now 30% before tax. Buffett's See's Candies needed $0.42 per $1 of new profit, FlightSafety $3.20, a typical grower about $5. See Capital-Light Compounders.
- PEG (growth at a reasonable price) 1.48 · Above fair P/E 24.0× ÷ 16.2% a year of growth behind it. 164th lowest of 447 stocks with a usable PEG. Lynch's fair value is a PEG of 1; a very high PEG usually means almost no growth, a very low one a profit spike. See PEG Ratio Ranking.
- Compounder lenses (4) 3 of 4 · misses capital-light Capital-light growth: not cleared (profit grew 1.8×, under 2×); Profit is real: cleared; Cash to owners: cleared; Fair price (PEG): cleared. See Compounders at a Fair Price, which also lets you move the PEG bar.
- Value trap check Clear
- Munger's Inversion Check 0 flags
- Standing vs. sector peers 4 of 7 measures above the median Compared with the 33 other health care stocks this site tracks: 1 in the top third, 2 in the bottom third.
- Dividend payout sustainability 0/6 · clean
How does UnitedHealth Group compare with its peers?
4 of 7 measures sit above the median of the 33 other health care stocks tracked here, 1 in the top third and 2 in the bottom third.
- P/E ratiolower is cheaper · peer median 24.6× 24.0× –14th of 32
- Free-cash-flow yieldhigher is cheaper · peer median 5.5% 6.0% –13th of 34
- Return on equityhigher is better · peer median 15% 16% –15th of 34
- Net marginhigher is better · peer median 9.3% 3.5% ✕24th of 34
- Revenue growthhigher is better, year on year · peer median 8.6% 3.3% ✕32nd of 34
- Debt / equitylower is safer · peer median 0.69 0.71 –20th of 34
- Dividend yieldamong dividend payers · peer median 1.10% 2.14% ✓5th of 21
Peers are the stocks this site tracks in the same sector group, not every listed competitor. The bar runs from the weakest peer (left) to the strongest (right); the tick is the middle. Measures that don't apply to a sector (cash-flow yield for banks, debt for financials) are left out.
What would Buffett & Lynch say?
Buffett's checklist is built around durable, profitable businesses bought at sensible prices, and UNH doesn't clear enough of it yet. In its favor: UNH is currently earning a strong return on shareholders' equity, and has kept that profitability up over five years, not just this year, is trading below what a conservative discounted-cash-flow estimate says it's worth - his own "price is what you pay, value is what you get" test, not a fixed multiple ceiling, and trades at a reasonable multiple of owner earnings, his own term for the real cash a business could pay out. Where it comes up short: UNH carries more debt relative to equity than he typically tolerates, runs thinner pretax margins than he'd like to see, hasn't grown earnings per share fast enough over five years to impress him, and doesn't cover its interest expense as comfortably as he'd want.
- ROE (TTM) > 11% ✓
- ROE (5yr avg) > 11% ✓
- Debt/Equity < 0.5 ✕
- Pretax margin > 15% ✕
- EPS growth (5yr) > 7% ✕
- Interest coverage > 5x ✕
- Trading below intrinsic value (DCF) ✓
- Price vs. owner earnings < 25x ✓
- Bonus: returning capital via buybacks FY2025
Lynch looked for growth stories that weren't overpriced for that growth, and UNH falls short of his bar. In its favor: UNH converts earnings into real cash at a reasonable price. Where it comes up short: UNH doesn't pay much of a dividend, which is the main reason to own a slow grower in the first place, isn't even growing at the modest pace he'd expect from a slow grower, carries more debt than he liked to see, even allowing for the extra room a large, stable business gets, and is priced too rich for how little growth is actually left in the business.
- Dividend yield > 2.5% ✕
- EPS growth 0%-10% ✕
- Debt/Equity < 0.6 ✕
- P/E < 20 ✕
- Price/FCF < 25 ✓
Quantitative approximations of each investor's documented approach, not endorsed by either investor or their estates - commentary, not this site's actual ranking criteria. Buffett never published a numeric checklist: only 2 of his 8 checks here trace to his own documented concepts ("owner earnings," from his 1986 shareholder letter, and "price is what you pay, value is what you get," his case against fixed P/E/P/B ceilings) - the other 6 (ROE, debt, margins, growth, interest coverage) use commonly-cited thresholds that are not numbers he himself published. The 8 hard filters below (plus the Munger check and Graham margin of safety) are this site's real, mechanical screen and are computed completely independently of the checklists above.
Berkshire Hathaway's own filing
Which of the 8 value filters does UnitedHealth Group pass?
- Market Cap > $25B $381.7B
- Trailing P/E < 25 24.03
- PEG Ratio < 1.5 1.48
- Price/Book < 8 3.67
- Price/Sales < 7 0.85
- EPS Growth YoY > -5% +76.2%
- vs 50-day MA (±12%) +9.5%
- vs 200-day MA (±12%) +17.8%
What is UnitedHealth Group's margin of safety?
+15% on 2026-10-07 → +2% on 2026-10-23 (5 weekly readings).
Where is UnitedHealth Group in its 52-week range?
What is the short interest in UnitedHealth Group?
15,950,438 shares short as of 2026-09-30 (FINRA settlement date). Reported twice a month, so this only changes roughly every two weeks, not daily.
What could go wrong with UnitedHealth Group? Munger's inversion check
"Invert, always invert." Instead of reasons to buy, these are reasons to hesitate, not a verdict, and not everything worth knowing about a business.
- Margin of safety, even in the bull case +42%
- Short interest under 5% of float 1.8%
- Passes most of the 6 fundamental filters 6/6 passed
- Price run-up backed by value, not just momentum +64% off 52wk low
- Debt/equity stable since 2016 0.86 → 0.78
Doesn't cover circle of competence, management quality, or accounting concerns: those need judgment, not data.
How much have UnitedHealth Group shareholders gained per year?
Earnings growth per share plus dividend.
An earnings-based proxy, not a stock-price total return - it doesn't capture multiple expansion/contraction or reinvested dividends. EPS from UNH's own 10-K filings; dividend yield is the current trailing yield on today's price, from the same weekly fetch as the rest of this site.
What do UnitedHealth Group's 10-year financials show?
From UNH's own 10-K filings (SEC EDGAR): up to the last 10 fiscal years. Press any year's bars for the exact figures.
A single trade isn't automatically bullish or bearish. Insiders sell for all kinds of personal reasons. Most recent filings for UNH:
Frequently asked questions about UnitedHealth Group
What kind of company is UnitedHealth Group?
UnitedHealth Group owns the largest US health insurer, UnitedHealthcare, and Optum, a health-services business covering pharmacy benefits, care delivery and data services. It earns insurance premiums and service fees. Brands and businesses it owns include UnitedHealthcare, Optum, OptumRx, Optum Health and Optum Insight. This site groups it with Health Care stocks.
Is UnitedHealth Group trading above or below its DCF value?
At $424.98, UNH trades 2.5% below this site's neutral DCF value of $435.83 per share, a margin of safety of +2.5%. That DCF projects free cash flow for 10 years, with growth starting at 8% and fading to 2.5%, discounted at 10%; it is one set of assumptions, not a forecast. Test your own in the Intrinsic Value Calculator.
How many of this site's 8 value filters does UnitedHealth Group pass?
UNH passes 7 of 8. It passes Market Cap > $25B ($381.7B), Trailing P/E < 25 (24.03), PEG Ratio < 1.5 (1.48), Price/Book < 8 (3.67), Price/Sales < 7 (0.85), EPS Growth YoY > -5% (+76.2%) and vs 50-day MA (±12%) (+9.5%). It misses vs 200-day MA (±12%) (+17.8%). The 8-filter list shows every stock that passes all of them.
What growth is UnitedHealth Group's share price pricing in?
At $424.98, UNH's free cash flow of $25.52 per share would have to grow 7.4% a year, fading to 2.5% by year 10, for this site's DCF (10% discount rate) to match the price. This site's baseline starts at 8%, so the price asks for less growth than the baseline. Change the assumptions.
Where is UnitedHealth Group trading compared with its 52-week range?
At $424.98, UNH trades 64.1% above its 52-week low of $259.02 and 2.6% below its 52-week high of $436.35.
How risky is UnitedHealth Group's balance sheet?
UNH's Altman Z″-Score is 1.42, which falls in the grey zone. Altman's own thresholds are above 2.6 for the safe zone, 1.1 to 2.6 for the grey zone and below 1.1 for the distress zone; the score blends working capital, retained earnings, operating profit and equity against liabilities. Its debt-to-equity ratio is 0.71, against a sector median of 0.69. See the Altman Z″-Score list.
Where do these numbers come from?
- Financial statements: UnitedHealth Group's 10-K annual report for the year ended Dec 31, 2025, filed Mar 2, 2026 (filing index). Every earlier year in the 10-year financials comes from the company's older 10-K filings, all listed on SEC EDGAR.
- Prices and market data: quotes, P/E and analyst ratings from Finnhub; daily price history and the 52-week range from Twelve Data, both refreshed weekly. Short interest comes from FINRA, reported twice a month.
- How to check a figure: click any number in the card above to see its exact source, and read the Editorial Standards for every rule behind the checks.
About this UnitedHealth Group Inc analysis
This page shows every value-investing check the site runs on UnitedHealth Group Inc (UNH) in one place: the 8 mechanical filters, the Buffett and Lynch checklists, a margin of safety from a disclosed DCF, earnings quality, shareholder yield and how it ranks against its sector peers. The numbers come from SEC filings and public market data, refreshed weekly, and the same rules apply to every stock on the stock list. See Editorial Standards for the sources and the rules, or run your own filters in the stock screener.