UnitedHealth: Down 50%, Is the Dividend Still Safe?
*Stock prices used were the market prices of July 8, 2025. The video was published on July 12, 2025.
Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Continue »
Should you invest $1,000 in UnitedHealth Group right now?
Before you buy stock in UnitedHealth Group, consider this:
The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and UnitedHealth Group 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 $671,477!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $1,010,880!*
Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor 's total average return is1,047% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to180%for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor.
See the 10 stocks »
*Stock Advisor returns as of July 7, 2025
Rick Orford has positions in UnitedHealth Group. The Motley Fool recommends UnitedHealth Group. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
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The two largest companies behind Nvidia are Apple, valued at $3.16 trillion, and Microsoft, at $3.72 trillion. The others are much further behind. And while there's the possibility that they will soar while these two drop, assuming they all perform relatively similarly in the next few months, Microsoft will get there first simply because it's the closest. However, Microsoft has an excellent chance of performing better than, at the very least, its closest competitor, Apple. The iPhone maker has been hit hard this year due to the current U.S. administration's trade policies. The Trump administration aims to bring manufacturing back to the United States, which poses a challenge for Apple, as the company outsources most of its manufacturing to countries such as China, a favorite target of Trump's aggressive tariffs, and other Asian nations. Trump recently doubled down on his threat of aggressive tariffs. Additionally, Apple has fallen behind Microsoft and its tech peers in the artificial intelligence (AI) race. While I think Apple could still perform well over the long run, the company's short-term prospects don't look attractive. What about Microsoft? The tech leader delivered excellent results during its latest update, which covered the third quarter of its fiscal year 2025, ending on March 31. Microsoft's cloud computing and AI businesses are booming. It has been gaining ground on Amazon in the competitive cloud field. Further, the company's latest update provided strong guidance, indicating a growing demand for its services, despite a somewhat shaky macroeconomic environment. The smart money is on Microsoft outperforming Apple in the next few months. Amazon, Alphabet, and Meta Platforms are also performing well, but with market caps of $2.36 trillion, $2.15 trillion, and $1.82 trillion, they are too far behind to make serious runs at the $4 trillion mark before Microsoft. 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Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Learn More » Since stocks can technically go up indefinitely, you can lose much more than you can make. Meanwhile, if a short goes against you and the stock price goes up, the position size becomes larger, not smaller. This can lead to margin calls, which typically leads to short-sellers being forced to buy back the stock they shorted at a loss. So why short-sell at all? For one, it's a market hedge. But more importantly, most stocks actually do underperform. According to a JP Morgan Asset Management study, between 1980 and 2020, 40% of stocks in the Russell 3000 index -- which consists of the 3,000 largest U.S. traded stocks -- suffered catastrophic losses of 70% or more from which they never recovered. Meanwhile, 42% of the stocks in the index had negative returns during this period. In addition, two-thirds of stocks underperformed the index. 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Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $671,477!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $1,010,880!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor 's total average return is1,047% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to180%for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of July 7, 2025
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