Three Stock Lunch: AbbVie, UnitedHealth, and Booking Holdings
Chris Grisanti, MAI Capital Management, joins 'Power Lunch' to discuss Gristanti's investing take on three stocks: Abbvie, UnitedHealth, and Booking Holdings.
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3 hours ago
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Billionaire Ken Griffin Just Bought More Shares of These Unstoppable Dividend Stocks
Investors have been hit with a great deal of volatility and uncertainty in the markets lately. Even so, these two companies are healthcare leaders that can still perform well. Both have solid growth prospects and have increased their payouts for a combined 101 years. 10 stocks we like better than Medtronic › Some stock-trading platforms enable their users to automatically replicate the positions taken by experienced investors or other famous figures. Many investors might prefer to do their own research before buying shares of a company, but it's still a good idea to pay attention to some of the moves more experienced names on Wall Street make. Take Ken Griffin, a successful money manager and the billionaire CEO of Citadel Advisors, the hedge fund he founded. During the first quarter, Griffin and his team made several moves that investors, including those seeking reliable dividend payers, should seriously consider copying. The hedge fund added shares of Medtronic (NYSE: MDT) and AbbVie (NYSE: ABBV). Here's why these two are top options for dividend seekers. Medtronic checks several of the boxes that dividend investors look to find. Let's consider three of them. First, the company develops and markets medical devices. As a leader in a defensive industry, Medtronic tends to perform better than most even in challenging conditions. The business is highly unlikely to go under, which means there is less risk of payout cuts. Medtronic's shares have performed slightly better than the S&P 500 this year -- despite significant volatility and fears of a recession -- while it continues to generate steady revenue and profits. That's precisely what income seekers want. Second, Medtronic has several important growth avenues. The company is inching closer to approval in the U.S. for its Hugo device, a robotic-assisted surgery (RAS) system, in urologic procedures. That will mark the device's grand commercial entrance into the U.S. market. Medtronic should seek label expansions for it in the future. The RAS industry appears to be significantly underpenetrated. As Medtronic pointed out two years ago, less than 5% of procedures that could be performed robotically currently are. The company's Hugo system will unlock massive long-term growth opportunities and help it continue delivering consistent financial results just as it has been doing. Third, Medtronic has an impeccable dividend track record, having grown its payouts for 48 consecutive years. Its 3.4% forward yield is above the S&P 500's average of 1.3%. Medtronic currently faces some challenges, including the threat of tariffs. It expects a net tariff hit of between $200 million and $350 million during its fiscal year 2026 (which just started). However, Medtronic is looking for ways to mitigate the impact of tariffs. For its fiscal 2026, it projected revenue growth of 5% year over year and adjusted earnings-per-share (EPS) growth of 1% at the midpoint, including the impact of tariffs. These trade developments will harm the company in the short term, but Medtronic should find ways to minimize the negative impact in the long term if these tariffs remain in place for an extended period, which is by no means certain. In my view, even with that threat, Medtronic remains a top stock to buy and hold for the long term, especially for dividend seekers. AbbVie's shares fell off a cliff in November after an otherwise promising pipeline program flopped in a phase 2 study. The drugmaker is no stranger to clinical setbacks. No pharmaceutical giant is. However, AbbVie's underlying business still looks incredibly solid. The company's revenue and earnings are growing at a good clip largely thanks to its two immunology superstars, Skyrizi and Rinvoq. Management expects these medicines to hit $31 billion in combined sales by 2027 (versus $17.7 billion last year). However, AbbVie's greatest strength isn't its current lineup of immunology medicines. It's the company's ability to overcome clinical setbacks and major patent cliffs by successfully developing newer and better medicines. Skyrizi and Rinvoq helped AbbVie move beyond Humira, its former top-selling medicine, which lost U.S. patent exclusivity in January 2023. Skyrizi and Rinvoq overlap with many of Humira's indications, sometimes with greater efficacy. AbbVie's deep pipeline should enable it to develop successors to its current crop of drugs even if it has to endure setbacks along the way. AbbVie's business is impressive and so is its dividend history. The company has increased its payouts for 53 consecutive years -- making it a Dividend King -- and currently offers a forward yield of 3.6%. AbbVie is an outstanding dividend stock despite the issues it has encountered in the past two years. Before you buy stock in Medtronic, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and Medtronic wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $656,825!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $865,550!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 994% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 172% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join . See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of June 2, 2025 Prosper Junior Bakiny has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends AbbVie. The Motley Fool recommends Medtronic and recommends the following options: long January 2026 $75 calls on Medtronic and short January 2026 $85 calls on Medtronic. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Billionaire Ken Griffin Just Bought More Shares of These Unstoppable Dividend Stocks was originally published by The Motley Fool
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Three Stock Lunch: Apple, Netflix and Snowflake
Rebecca Walser, Walser Wealth Management CEO, joins 'Power Lunch' to discuss Walser's investing take on three stocks: Apple, Netflix and Snowflake.
Yahoo
17 hours ago
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UnitedHealthcare lawsuit accuses Guardian of trying to ‘capitalize' on CEO's killing
UnitedHealthcare is suing The Guardian for defamation over a story the publication ran related to its billing for nursing home residents. In a May 21 story, The Guardian US alleged that the health care giant saved money at the cost of nursing home residents' health. In a lawsuit filed on Wednesday, UnitedHealthcare said that The Guardian had knowingly published false information, and tried to capitalize on media interest in the killing of its then-CEO last year in New York. The health care company alleged that The Guardian cropped screenshots quoted in the article, taking the email out of its full context. It further disputed some of The Guardian's characterizations of medical events in the story. 'The Guardian knew these accusations were false, but published them anyway, brazenly trying to capitalize on the tragic and shocking assassination of UnitedHealthcare's then-CEO, Brian Thompson,' the complaint says. UnitedHealthcare is being represented by the law firm Clare Locke, which has made a name for itself for aggressively pursuing defamation lawsuits against news media organizations. In a fiery statement first shared with Semafor, The Guardian said it was not backing down from its reporting following the lawsuit, saying that the story was backed up by documents and on-the-record lawsuits. 'The Guardian stands by its deeply-sourced, independent reporting, which is based on thousands of corporate and patient records, publicly filed lawsuits, declarations submitted to federal and state agencies, and interviews with more than 20 current and former UnitedHealth employees — as well as statements and information provided by UnitedHealth itself over several weeks,' a spokesperson said. 'It's outrageous that in response to factual reporting on the practice of secretly paying nursing homes to reduce hospitalizations for vulnerable patients, UnitedHealth is resorting to wildly misleading claims and intimidation tactics via the courts.' UnitedHealth has struggled in the months since the high-profile murder of its former CEO. Last month, the company announced that it was replacing its now-former CEO, Andrew Witty, after reporting poor profits and shaky projections for the rest of 2025. And The Wall Street Journal reported that the company is at the center of multiple Department of Justice investigations for potential Medicare fraud. Investors in UHC sued the company last month, alleging it had not adjusted its earnings outlook to account for the killing of Thompson. Luigi Mangione, the man accused of killing Thompson, has asked that his New York murder charge be dropped on the grounds that the ongoing federal case against him amounts to double jeopardy. His lawyers have also asked that he not be required to wear shackles or a bulletproof vest to court.
