We recently published a list of 10 Best Stocks That Will Always Grow. In this article, we are going to take a look at where UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) stands against other best stocks that will always grow.

The Looming Risk of a Recession in the US

Threats of an impending recession are looming over the stock market due to Trump’s tariffs and macroeconomic uncertainty. According to CNBC’s quarterly CFO Council Survey for Q1 2025, a majority of chief financial officers are of the opinion that the economy is likely to fall into a recession in H2 2025. The CFOs said that they were generally “pessimistic” about the overall state of the American economy, and expressed uncertainty about the stock market.

The survey also showed that 95% of the CFOs claimed that their ability to make business decisions is being affected by policy, and a significant number said that although the Trump administration is “delivering on promises,” the government’s dealing with such matters is proving disruptive, extreme, and too chaotic. This is causing considerable difficulty to businesses looking to effectively navigate the present challenges. Therefore, around 60% of the CFOs opined that they expect a recession to materialize in H2 2025; another 15% said that it may appear in 2026.

CNBC reported on April 16 that Fed Chair Jerome Powell announced the day before that the central bank may be caught at the crossroads of supporting economic growth and controlling inflation. He said that although he anticipates lower growth and increased inflation, it is uncertain where the Fed will need to focus its attention. In prepared remarks before the Economic Club of Chicago, he said:

“We may find ourselves in the challenging scenario in which our dual-mandate goals are in tension. If that were to occur, we would consider how far the economy is from each goal, and the potentially different time horizons over which those respective gaps would be anticipated to close.”

Powell also did not give any indication of where interest rates could be headed, but remarked that:

“For the time being, we are well positioned to wait for greater clarity before considering any adjustments to our policy stance.”

READ ALSO: 15 Best Blue Chip Stocks to Buy According to Billionaires and 11 Best Retail Stocks to Buy Right Now.

Are the Stagflation Risks Real?

On April 17, Joyce Chang, JPMorgan chair of global research, appeared on CNBC’s ‘Closing Bell Overtime’ to talk about Powell’s latest comments and the looming risk of recession. She was of the opinion that the risk of the recession is hovering over the stock market even with Trump’s 90-day tariff delays at around 60%.

Chang said that PCE inflation is coming towards 4% over the next year, with growth flat at the end of the year. While a recession is not imminent, as some of the hard data is still looking relatively healthy, with higher inflation, flat growth, and still very high fiscal deficits, one has to highlight that the stagflation risks are very real. The uncertainty would continue and is highly unlikely to be over after 90 days.

Since current and future market conditions reflect volatility and uncertainty, let’s examine the 10 best stocks that might always grow, even in an economic downturn.

Our Methodology

We sifted through stock screeners, financial media reports, and ETFs to compile a list of 20 recession-proof stocks with a 10-year revenue growth rate of 8%-15% and chose the top 10 most popular among hedge funds as of Q4 2024. The list is ordered in ascending order of hedge fund sentiment. We sourced the hedge fund sentiment data from Insider Monkey’s database.

Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? 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).

UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 150

UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) provides healthcare coverage, data consultancy, and software services. It operates through the OptumRx, OptumInsight, OptumHealth, and UnitedHealthCare segments, which have solid operations.

Despite the current challenges faced by the company, TD Cowen analyst Ryan Langston has maintained a bullish stance on UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH), giving a Buy rating on April 22. While the company is experiencing headwinds, such as falling EPS estimates for 2025 and 2026 due to lower-than-expected coding in Optum Health and unanticipated trends in Medicare Advantage, the analyst expects margin recovery by 2026. Improving coding trends and favorable rate adjustments are anticipated to support this recovery.

In addition, UnitedHealth Group Incorporated’s (NYSE:UNH) consolidated revenue guidance remains strong even after a downward adjustment in Optum Health’s revenue outlook, as the UHC and Rx segments are exceeding initial expectations. The analyst also justifies the Buy rating with management’s optimism to address the present issues within the year, potentially paving the way for recovery in 2026.

Vulcan Value Partners stated the following regarding UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) in its Q4 2024 investor letter:

“UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH), a company that we have owned several times in the past, is the largest health insurer in the United States. UnitedHealth Group also owns Optum, which is a rapidly growing healthcare services company. The environment for the health insurance business remains positive as growth in healthcare spending, driven by chronic diseases and an aging population, will continue to outpace overall economic growth. The insurance business benefits from powerful network effects as more members attract more providers and vice versa, which reinforces United’s value proposition and bargaining power with each side of the network. We respect UnitedHealth Group’s management team and have been very pleased with their long-term vision and execution.”

Overall, UNH ranks 1st on our list of the best stocks that will always grow. While we acknowledge the potential for UNH as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter time frame. There is an AI stock that went up since the beginning of 2025, while popular AI stocks lost around 25%. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than UNH but trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock.

READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and 30 Best Stocks to Buy Now According to Billionaires.

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