Factors That Lifted UnitedHealth Group’s (UNH) Performance in Q1

RiverPark Advisors, an investment advisory firm and sponsor of the RiverPark family of mutual funds, released its “RiverPark Large Growth Fund” Q1 2025 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. The market faced a challenging start to 2025, with the S&P 500 Index declining 4.27% and the Russell 1000 Growth Index falling 9.97% in the first quarter. Against this backdrop, the fund dropped 7.21%, outperforming its growth benchmark. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2025.

In its first-quarter 2025 investor letter, RiverPark Large Growth Fund highlighted stocks such as UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH). UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) is a diversified healthcare company that operates through UnitedHealthcare, Optum Health, Optum Insight, and Optum Rx segments. The one-month return of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) was -25.42%, and its shares lost 39.31% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On May 30, 2025, UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) stock closed at $301.91 per share with a market capitalization of $273.87 billion.

RiverPark Large Growth Fund stated the following regarding UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) in its Q1 2025 investor letter:

“UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) performed well in the quarter as the company delivered solid earnings and reaffirmed guidance despite a higher-than-expected medical cost ratio. Investors responded positively to management’s strategic clarity around balancing growth in both the insurance and healthcare services businesses. UnitedHealth’s integrated Optum platform continues to demonstrate strong growth and operating leverage, which we believe will be a key driver of earnings power over time. As the healthcare landscape evolves, UNH’s diversified model, scale advantages, and consistent execution make it a cornerstone holding in the portfolio. Since the close of the quarter, the company, in conjunction with a CEO change, announced that the medical cost ratio will be higher than expected as recently as last month which weighed heavily on the stock. We will discuss this in more detail in our next letter.”

A senior healthcare professional giving advice to a patient in a clinic.

UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) is in 18th position on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 139 hedge fund portfolios held UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) at the end of the first quarter, which was 150 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the potential of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE: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 as promising as NVIDIA but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the undervalued AI stock set for massive gains.

In another article, we covered UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) and shared the list of stocks on Jim Cramer and Wall Street’s radar. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q1 2025 page for more investor letters from hedge funds and other leading investors.

READ NEXT: Michael Burry Is Selling These Stocks and A New Dawn Is Coming to US Stocks.

Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.