We recently published a list of 10 Best Performing Long Term Stocks So Far in 2025. In this article, we are going to take a look at where UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) stands against other best performing long term stocks so far in 2025.

Consumer morale fell more drastically than expected in April, owing to a surge in inflation expectations to unprecedented levels. According to the central bank’s monthly Survey of Consumer Expectations, respondents expect inflation to reach 3.6% within a year, up 0.5 percentage points from February and the highest since October 2023. This increase in inflation fears was coupled by increased labor market unease, the assessed possibility that unemployment will rise in a year, surging to 44%. This represents a 4.6-point increase and the highest reading since the COVID-19 outbreak began in April 2020.

The survey results come amid growing concern over the possible economic impact of US President Donald Trump’s planned tariffs. Many on Wall Street say they would fuel inflation and stifle economic development, while some analysts even fear that the United States may enter a recession within the next year. Meanwhile, Federal Reserve officials have expressed differing views, with some worrying that adjustments in consumer expectations might have immediate economic effects if they impact behavior.

Conversely, Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller remarked on April 14 that he anticipates the effects of President Donald Trump’s tariffs on prices to be “transitory,” using a word that landed the central bank in hot water during the previous bout of inflation. Waller believes the market could swing two different ways, stating that greater and longer-lasting tariffs would cause a larger inflation jump initially to 4% to 5%, which would later recede as the economy slowed and unemployment soared. In the other, smaller-tariff scenario, inflation would approach approximately 3% and then fall off. Waller added the following:

“Yes, I am saying that I expect that elevated inflation would be temporary, and ‘temporary’ is another word for transitory. Despite the fact that the last surge of inflation beginning in 2021 lasted longer than I and other policymakers initially expected, my best judgment is that higher inflation from tariffs will be temporary.”

However, Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari has other concerns. The 10-year Treasury yield rose in the second week of this month after Trump stated his plans to impose a 10% tax on all U.S. trade partners and threatened to apply tougher, selective levies before backing down on April 9. At the same time, the dollar has fallen more than 3% compared to a basket of global currencies, perhaps signaling a shift away from safe-haven US assets. This is what Kashkari had to say:

“Investors around the world have viewed America as the best place to invest, and if that’s true, we will have a trade deficit. So now one of the ways that expresses itself is in lower yields across asset classes in America. If the trade deficit is going to go down, it could be that investors are saying, OK, America no longer is the most attractive place in the world to invest, and then you would expect to see bond yields go up.”

Our Methodology

For this list, we sifted through financial media reports and compiled a list of equities that are frequently referred to as long-term investments. We then chose the 10 stocks that were most popular among elite hedge funds and those that analysts were optimistic about. The names on this list appear in increasing order by the number of hedge funds that hold them as of Q4 2024.

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 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (see more details here).

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

UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Year-to-date performance as of April 12: 18.82%

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 150

UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) is a well-known US multinational company that provides managed healthcare and insurance services. The company is separated into four major segments: UnitedHealthcare, Optum Health, Optum Insight, and Optum Rx.

On April 8, KeyBanc Capital Markets reiterated its Overweight rating and $650 price target for UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH). The firm’s analyst noted the finalized Medicare Advantage (MA) prices for 2026, which outperformed expectations and may result in margin increases for MA plans next year. The timing is especially interesting as UnitedHealth prepares for its next earnings release on April 17, with analysts maintaining a highly optimistic consensus on the company.

UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) reported strong performance for fiscal year 2024, above market expectations. Revenue increased by 8% to $400 billion, thanks to a broad expansion of its service offerings. In 2024, the corporation returned more than $16 billion to shareholders via dividends and stock buybacks.

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 2nd on our list of best performing long term stocks so far in 2025. 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 the 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.