UnitedHealth is unpopular, but its stock suddenly isn't

Axios

8 hours ago

UnitedHealth Group's public reputation is still reeling, yet its battered stock has been something that more and more investors can't seem to resist.
Why it matters: Recent interest in its stock, from everyday investors to Wall Street's titans, shows that investors have no issues looking past public sentiment when they see a path to share recovery.
Catch up quick: Even since the December killing of its top insurance executive, Brian Thompson, UnitedHealth has borne the brunt of a wave of social media outrage over insurers' roles in coverage denials and rising costs — criticism UnitedHealth has insisted is misguided.
Still, executives acknowledged in April that the company had an image problem, and needed to communicate better with their customers about its coverage decisions and processes.
In May, it pulled its full-year earnings outlook and made a change at CEO.
In July, it confirmed an earlier report that the DOJ was looking into its Medicare billing practices, and warned that escalating medical costs would continue to drag down earnings.
The impact: Its stock has taken a beating — it's fallen 55% since the public backlash in December.
The latest: That slide has drawn the attention of some pretty big investors, most notable among them, Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway — which on Thursday disclosed having bought more than 5 million shares in the company as of the end of the June.
Berkshire wasn't alone. David Tepper's hedge fund Appaloosa Management and Michael Burry's Scion Assets Management (made famous in "The Big Short") also disclosed having bought positions.
That sent UnitedHealth's shares up 12% Friday.
Regular investors have been buying in, too. Interactive Brokers listed UnitedHealth as the second largest net buying position on its platform in the first week of August.
Charles Schwab listed it as one of the five most popular names among its retail clients in July, among Nvidia, Tesla, Palantir and Amazon.