Jim Cramer Highlighted 25 Stocks Like Apple, UnitedHealth, and the Rotation into Defensive Sectors

17. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) was among the stocks Jim Cramer highlighted during Mad Money, as he noted the rotation into defensive sectors. Cramer called the company’s CEO “legendary,” as he commented:

Finally, we have UnitedHealth. It’s another managed care play that’s up for the same reason as Humana. The stock pulled back this afternoon, but the legendary CEO Steve Hemsley’s back, and he’s so good. A brutal stint of bad management before he got there. He’s turning it around. UnitedHealth, buy it.

UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) provides health care services, insurance plans, pharmacy care, and data-driven solutions. Cramer was bullish on the stock during the April 23 episode, as he stated:

Okay, finally, we’re going to get to the one that you’re going to buy tomorrow, alright, UnitedHealth Group. Here’s a company that just reported its first solid beat and raise quarter in a very long time. Returning CEO, Steve Hemsley, who turned UNH into a juggernaut before he retired in 2017, is back, and he is doing the same thing he did for years the last time he was CEO. Produced the best earnings and biggest upside surprises in the real. They’re not chimerical. They’re not made up. They’re none of that jack stuff.

Yet after all of that, after putting up the best managed care earnings I’ve seen in ages, stock still sells for just 19 times earnings. Boy, this group is hated. The man is just getting started. The stock deserves to be much higher. Okay, here’s a little clue. UNH, we’ll do a little cinéma-vérité here… The UNH is at $354. This stock was at $600 last April, April of 2025. You know why I like these stocks so much? Because if they come down further, you can just keep buying them hand over fist. Because you know what? When they go down, they actually get cheaper.