In this video, I will talk about four interesting companies that could provide significant upside for long-term investors. I chose a mix of companies in different industries. Watch the short video to learn more, consider subscribing, and click the special offer link below.

*Stock prices used were from the trading day of June 30, 2025. The video was published on July 1, 2025.

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Should you invest $1,000 in Alphabet right now?

Before you buy stock in Alphabet, 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 Alphabet 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 $692,914!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $963,866!*

Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 1,050% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 179% 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 »

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Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Neil Rozenbaum has positions in Alphabet, PayPal, and UnitedHealth Group. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, PayPal, and Qualcomm. The Motley Fool recommends UnitedHealth Group and recommends the following options: long January 2027 $42.50 calls on PayPal and short June 2025 $77.50 calls on PayPal. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Neil is an affiliate of The Motley Fool and may be compensated for promoting its services. If you choose to subscribe through his link, he will earn some extra money that supports his channel. His opinions remain his own and are unaffected by The Motley Fool.

Key Points

• Home Depot is a blue chip dividend stock long-term investors can count on.

• Nucor, UnitedHealth, and Alphabet have become too cheap to ignore.

• Criteo is a hidden-gem growth stock packed with upside potential.

The second half of the year is a great time for folks to review what companies they are invested in, why they are invested in them, and to update their watch lists with exciting stocks to buy.

However, some investors may be hesitant to put new capital to work in the market given the rapid recovery over the last few months. The S&P 500 is up more than 20% from its April lows, putting pressure on companies to deliver on expectations.

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When valuations are high, it's even more important that investors focus on quality companies that have what it takes to deliver strong returns without everything having to go right.

Here's why these Fool.com contributors believe that Home Depot (NYSE: HD), Nucor (NYSE: NUE), UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH), Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOG) (NASDAQ: GOOGL), and Criteo (NASDAQ: CRTO) stand out as top stocks to buy in July.

Spring for this retailer's cheap stock

Demitri Kalogeropoulos (Home Depot): Home Depot stock has become cheaper relative to the market over the past year, and that fact should have investors feeling excited about adding the retailer to their portfolios. Sure, the home improvement giant's business hasn't been performing as well as it did through the pandemic and its immediate aftermath. Comparable-store sales (comps) in the most recent quarter were essentially flat due to a sluggish housing market. Consumers are trading down to less ambitious home improvement projects, too.

Yet customer traffic through early May was positive, rising 2% to help overall revenue improve by 9%. Those figures bode well for the chain's crucial spring selling season, when homeowners tend to spend aggressively on outdoor projects.

"We feel great about our store readiness and product assortment as spring continues to break across the country," CEO Ted Decker told investors in late May. Executives at the time affirmed their fiscal year outlook that calls for comps growth of about 1%, combined with a drop in profit margin to 13% of sales.

That decline would still keep Home Depot ahead of rival Lowe's on profitability. And cash flow remains strong enough for the chain to continue repurchasing shares and paying a robust dividend while investing in the business. The dividend yield is at 2.4%, compared to Lowe's 2%, giving investors another reason to prefer the market leader in this niche.

It could be some time before Home Depot's sales gains accelerate to above 5% again, while operating margin returns to its prior level of just over 14%. But patient investors can hold this sturdy stock while waiting for that rebound, collecting those generous dividend checks along the way.

A turnaround story in the making?

Neha Chamaria (Nucor): After I recommended Nucor in February, the stock sank to a 52-week low in April but has bounced back dramatically -- almost 33% since. Although I am a long-term investor and do not track price movements in the short term, there's a reason I brought this up here. The thesis that I saw earlier this year is playing out for Nucor, meaning the time is ripe to buy the stock if you still haven't.

President Donald Trump imposed a 50% tariff on steel and aluminum imports on June 3, up from 25% he had proposed earlier, to curb the dumping of low-cost steel by other countries and boost the domestic steel industry. Nucor CEO Leon Topalian has publicly supported Trump's tariff policies and believes some, like steel tariffs, were long overdue. Soon after the tariff announcement, his company raised the prices of hot-rolled steel coils and issued encouraging guidance for its second quarter.

After muted first-quarter numbers, the company expects second-quarter earnings to rise considerably across all its segments: steel mills, steel products, and raw materials. Steel mills, also Nucor's largest segment, are expected to report the largest growth in earnings, driven by higher average selling prices.

Overall, the company expects to report earnings between $2.55 and $2.65 per share for the second quarter versus only $0.67 in the previous quarter. Although its second-quarter earnings could still be around 5% lower year over year, this could just be the beginning of an upward earnings and sales trend.

Shares have hugely underperformed the S&P 500 over the past year or so because of declining sales and profits. With demand and prices both picking up, this could be an inflection point for Nucor stock, making it a solid long-term buy at current prices.

A blue chip stock that's a bad-news buy

Keith Speights (UnitedHealth Group): Timing the market is next to impossible. But timing can sometimes be important when buying specific stocks. I don't think there has been a better time to invest in UnitedHealth Group in years.

To be sure, this healthcare stock faces numerous problems. UnitedHealth's Medicare Advantage costs have gotten so out of hand that the company was forced to first cut its full-year 2025 guidance and then later suspend the guidance altogether. This issue seems to have played a big role in the unexpected departure of former CEO Andrew Witty.

The Wall Street Journal's article about a Justice Department (DOJ) investigation into alleged criminal fraud by the company made matters worse. To add to the healthcare giant's misery, President Trump threatened to eliminate pharmacy benefits managers (PBMs). UnitedHealth's Optum Rx ranks as the nation's third-largest PBM.

Why buy UnitedHealth Group stock amid all of this doom and gloom? Its business prospects are significantly better than its valuation reflects. After plunging more than 50%, shares trade at only 13.3 times forward earnings. But most of the headwinds the company faces should eventually wane.

For example, management expects to return to growth next year. I think that makes sense. The solution to higher-than-anticipated Medicare Advantage costs is to boost premiums. While the company has to wait to implement its higher premiums, you can bet they're coming.

Witty was replaced by former longtime CEO Stephen Hemsley, and the company should again be in good shape under his leadership. I suspect Hemsley will direct the company to issue new full-year guidance as soon as possible, which should bolster investors' confidence.

What about the DOJ investigation? It hasn't been confirmed yet. And President Trump's threats to cut out the PBM middleman? That's much easier said than done.

The bottom line is that I believe UnitedHealth Group stock is way oversold right now. This blue chip is a great bad-news buy in July.

A standout in the "Magnificent Seven"

Daniel Foelber (Alphabet): Google parent Alphabet rebounded in lockstep with the broader market last week. But it's still a compelling buy in July.

As many megacap growth stocks have compounded in value, some investors are questioning whether there's still room for these stocks to run or if valuations could limit returns. Alphabet doesn't have that problem.

The stock is so attractively priced that it is cheaper than the S&P 500 on a forward price-to-earnings basis. Whereas the rest of the "Magnificent Seven" are more expensive than the S&P 500 based on this key metric. Meaning that investors don't have the same lofty earnings expectations for Alphabet as they do for companies like Nvidia, Microsoft, or even Apple (even though Apple is growing slower than Alphabet).

To be fair, getting too bogged down by valuations has been a historically bad idea for many of today's top companies. Measuring Microsoft for its legacy software suite alone would have drastically undervalued its now huge cloud computing segment.

Amazon used to be an online bookstore turned e-commerce giant. Similarly, its cloud computing segment, Amazon Web Services, is arguably more valuable than the rest of the company combined. Nvidia used to make most of its money from selling graphics processing units (GPUs) and other solutions for gaming and visualization customers. But today, GPU demand for data centers is the company's bread and butter.

Since no one has a crystal ball, investors have to make calculated bets based on where they think a company could be headed. Looking at Alphabet, I think the company has fairly low risk for its upside potential. Part of that reasoning is that its existing assets are drastically undervalued, and investors aren't giving the company much credit for the upside potential of self-driving through Waymo, the company's quantum computing investments, or its artificial intelligence tool Gemini.

Add it all up, and Alphabet stands out as an effective way to get exposure to many different end markets at a good value.

This ad-tech expert's stock is way too cheap in July

Anders Bylund (Criteo): Sometimes I wonder what it takes to impress Wall Street's market makers. Digital advertising expert Criteo has consistently stumped analysts since the spring of 2023, but the stock is down by 39% in 2025 at the time of this writing.

I get where the market skepticism is coming from. Criteo's top-line sales have been rather slow in recent quarters. The macroeconomic backdrop isn't ideal for big-ticket marketing campaigns, since consumers are holding on to their money with an iron grip.

But the company has tightened up its operations in this uncertain economy. In May's first-quarter report, adjusted earnings rose 38% year over year while free cash flow soared from breakeven to $45 million. For a sense of scale, that's 10% of its revenue in the same quarter.

So Criteo is a cash machine when it counts, and the lessons learned in these hard times should result in solid profit gains when the economy turns sweeter.

Meanwhile, the stock is priced for absolute disaster. Shares are changing hands at 9.8 times earnings and 5.7 times free cash flow, as if the company were losing money by the truckload. The stock price is entirely inappropriate for a very profitable specialist in a temporarily downtrodden industry.

I'm tempted to double down on my Criteo holdings in July, and I highly recommend that you consider this overlooked stock while it's cheap.

Should you invest $1,000 in Home Depot right now?

Before you buy stock in Home Depot, 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 Home Depot 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 $697,627!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $939,655!*

Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 1,045% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 178% 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 June 30, 2025

Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. John Mackey, former CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Anders Bylund has positions in Alphabet, Amazon, Criteo, Nvidia, and UnitedHealth Group. Daniel Foelber has positions in Nvidia. Demitri Kalogeropoulos has positions in Amazon, Apple, and Home Depot. Keith Speights has positions in Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Lowe's Companies, and Microsoft. Neha Chamaria has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Home Depot, Microsoft, and Nvidia. The Motley Fool recommends Criteo, Lowe's Companies, and UnitedHealth Group and recommends the following options: long January 2026 $395 calls on Microsoft and short January 2026 $405 calls on Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

If you're seeking dividend income, bravo -- because dividends are hard to beat. Healthy and growing dividend-paying stocks will keep sending you cash, no matter whether the economy is booming or slumping. And that cash is handy not only for retirees. Younger investors can use it to just buy more shares of stock.

One dividend payer to consider is UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH), with a 2.8% dividend yield. Imagine you're seeking $1,000 in annual income from UnitedHealth stock. How many shares must you buy?

Well, a little math is required: Take that $1,000 and divide by the recent annual dividend amount of $8.84. You'll arrive at 114, which is the number of shares you'll need to own.

With UnitedHealth stock recently trading for about $308 per share, those 114 shares will cost you $35,112 -- a hefty sum. You may not be able to afford 114 shares right now, but if you can just buy, say, 32 shares for just under $10,000, you'll be looking at about $283 in annual income -- and that dividend is likely to grow over time, too.

The current payout of $8.84 is up from $6.60 in 2022 and $4.32 in 2019. So you may still reach $1,000 in annual income, eventually, with just 32 shares.

An important question, though, is whether you should invest in UnitedHealth. There are some pros and cons to consider. UnitedHealth has been getting a lot of bad publicity recently, especially after the murder of its CEO last year. And the healthcare environment is likely to change, with the current administration in Washington cutting medical funding and possibly eliminating pharmacy benefits managers (PBMs). (UnitedHealth owns the Optum Rx PBM.)

On the plus side is UnitedHealth's low valuation, with its shares recently near a five-year low. (Its recent forward-looking price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 14 is well below the five-year average of 19.) Bulls see its problems as temporary and note that the company is still a giant, generating billions in free cash flow.

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 $658,297!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $883,386!*

Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 992% — 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 Stock Advisor.

See the 10 stocks »

*Stock Advisor returns as of June 9, 2025

Selena Maranjian has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends UnitedHealth Group. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Two stocks that have been at the center of financial news stories throughout the year are data mining specialist Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ: PLTR) and health insurance giant UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH).

The reasons these two companies are fetching so much attention, however, couldn't be more opposite.

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Palantir has emerged as a darling of the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution. As of this writing (June 5), shares of the stock have gained nearly 60% on the year -- making it one of the top performers in the S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 indexes.

By contrast, UnitedHealth Group stock is the worst-performing name in the Dow Jones Industrial Average -- with shares plummeting by more than 40%.

Is now the time to hop on the Palantir train, or should investors take an inventory check on UnitedHealth and choose to buy the dip?

Palantir is on a run for the ages

It's been just over two years since Palantir released its Artificial Intelligence Platform (AIP), a software suite that's proven to be a transformative game changer in the company's pursuit of competing with the largest players in the tech landscape.

PLTR Revenue (Quarterly) data by YCharts

Since releasing AIP, Palantir has unlocked a new wave of revenue acceleration -- thanks in large part to the company's impressive penetration of the private sector. For most of its history, Palantir relied heavily on government contracts from the Department of Defense (DOD).

While deals with the U.S. Military and its allies are still an important cornerstone of Palantir's business, AIP has helped the company break ground in a host of other use cases -- financial fraud, supply chain and logistics, aviation, and much more.

What might be most impressive about Palantir's transformation over the last two years is how rapidly the company transitioned from a cash-burning operation to one that generates consistent profitability. Not only is Palantir acquiring new business, but it's also monetizing these customers in a profitable way. That's a lucrative combination, indeed.

The one idea that's paramount for smart investors to understand is that while Palantir's business is soaring, so is the company's share price. As of this writing, Palantir trades at a price-to-sales (P/S) ratio of 97.

Not only is that magnitudes higher than any of its peers in the software realm, but it is historically high compared to what investors witnessed during the dot-com bubble in the late 1990s.

I don't think I'm the only one who has noticed the pronounced valuation expansion in Palantir, either. Consider that Cathie Wood's Ark Invest portfolio has been trimming Palantir stock as of late, and billionaire money manager Stanley Druckenmiller completely dumped his firm's stake in the AI stock during the first quarter.

UnitedHealth Group can't seem to get out of its own way

UnitedHealth Group's coverage couldn't be any more different than Palantir's. While investors continue to cheer on Palantir's dominance, it seems that only negativity surrounds UnitedHealth at the moment.

At the core of the health insurer's problems are some operational hiccups. Mismanagement in forecasting utilization rates in the company's Medicare Advantage business, as well as some unforeseen challenges in the pharmacy benefits management (PBM) segment, caused management to reduce financial guidance for 2025.

If this weren't enough to get investors worked up, UnitedHealth also replaced its CEO as the company seeks to right the ship and turn things around by next year.

UnitedHealth's downward revision and executive changes were met with a stock sell-off for the ages. Don't believe me? As of this writing, shares of UnitedHealth trade at $296 -- hovering near a five-year low.

Which stock is the better buy?

Despite its near-term headwinds, UnitedHealth stock looks awfully tempting at a forward price-to-earnings (P/E) multiple of just 13. When you consider that insiders have been buying the stock in the aftermath of this epic sell-off, I'm cautiously optimistic that all of the bad news surrounding UnitedHealth is priced in.

UNH PE Ratio (Forward) data by YCharts

On the other side of the equation, I think it's becoming increasingly difficult to argue that max upside isn't already priced into Palantir. Sure, I'm bullish on the company's future, but buying the stock near an all-time high doesn't seem like a prudent idea right now.

Overall, I'd choose to buy the dip in UnitedHealth as opposed to chasing the momentum fueling Palantir stock at the moment.

Should you invest $1,000 in Palantir Technologies right now?

Before you buy stock in Palantir Technologies, 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 Palantir Technologies 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 $669,517!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $868,615!*

Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 792% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 173% 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 June 2, 2025

Adam Spatacco has positions in Palantir Technologies. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Palantir Technologies. The Motley Fool recommends UnitedHealth Group. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

With shares down by more than 40%, UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH) is the poorest-performing stock in the Dow Jones Industrial Average so far this year.

Over the last month or so, there has been no shortage of storylines surrounding America's largest health insurers. And if the share price movements are any indication, most of the news isn't great.

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Let's dig into what has driven UnitedHealth stock off a cliff, and explore whether or not it remains a good buy for long-term investors.

What is going on at UnitedHealth?

A significant influence on a stock price, at least over the short term, is how a company's quarterly earnings are perceived. Generally speaking, if a company beats Wall Street estimates or raises its outlook, shares rise. On the other hand, if investors aren't impressed by the company's performance, they may choose to sell the stock.

During UnitedHealth's fourth-quarter and full-year 2024 earnings call in January, management issued earnings guidance of $28.15 to $28.65 per share.

Things took an unexpected turn when it reported first-quarter earnings on April 17. Management is now guiding in the range of $24.65 to $25.15 for earnings per share (EPS).

Two primary factors contributed to the downward revision. First, utilization rates from the company's Medicare Advantage businesses were higher than management was forecasting. These dynamics increase near-term costs, thereby stifling profitability.

Second, the company's Optum Health division -- which serves as a pharmacy benefits manager -- has been struggling on reimbursement due to a combination of cuts to Medicare as well as changes in insurance plans in certain market demographics.

Unfortunately for investors, UnitedHealth's drama didn't stop at the operational hiccups detailed above. About a month after the first-quarter earnings report, the company announced that CEO Andrew Witty had resigned.

If this weren't enough to get investors hitting the panic button, The Wall Street Journal followed up that news with a report that UnitedHealth was under investigation from the Department of Justice (DOJ) regarding fraudulent activity in Medicare billing.

Management was quick to deny these claims and called the report "deeply irresponsible."

UnitedHealth's valuation is getting clobbered

As of this writing (June 3), shares are trading around $300, near a five-year low.

UNH PE Ratio (Forward) data by YCharts.

The graph above shows that UnitedHealth is valued right in between insurance giants Humana and Cigna on a forward price-to-earnings (P/E) basis.

Is the stock a buy right now?

Just a month ago, the company's forward P/E was roughly twice as high as now and trading for a premium compared to the competition. Given the extreme valuation compression over the last several weeks, I am inclined to think much (if not all) of the bad news is priced into the stock already.

A downward revision in guidance and changes in management are the main talking points surrounding UnitedHealth at the moment. But in the company's first-quarter earnings release and the the announcement of Witty's resignation, management added that the company should return to growth by next year.

The company's new CEO, Stephen Hemsley, purchased $25 million in UnitedHealth stock following the sell-off last month. This was met with another $6.6 million of insider buys from other executives. I think this signals confidence in the company's long-term prospects. In my view, these insider buys suggest management believes that UnitedHealth is poised to return to growth.

While the near-term price action might continue exhibiting some volatility, I think the shares remain a solid opportunity for long-term investors. Given the valuation trends explored in this article, I think now is an opportunity to buy the dip in UnitedHealth Group stock at a bargain valuation.

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 $669,517!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $868,615!*

Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 792% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 173% 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 June 2, 2025

Adam Spatacco has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends UnitedHealth Group. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

A healthcare giant. One of only 30 stocks in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. A longtime investors' favorite. UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH) is all those things. However, it's also now a big loser.

Shares of UnitedHealth Group have plunged more than 50% below the peak achieved late last year. Problems have hit the world's largest health insurer wave after wave. In March, every analyst surveyed by LSEG rated UnitedHealth Group as a "buy" or "strong buy." Today, some recommend selling. But is UnitedHealth Group stock instead a brilliant bad news buy?

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One thing after another

UnitedHealth Group's challenges began last year. The company experienced a cyberattack in February 2024 that ultimately cost more than $2 billion. It disappointed investors with the outlook provided in the third-quarter update in October. In December, Brian Thompson, CEO of UnitedHealthcare, was shot and killed in New York City. The crime was allegedly due to the accused killer's anger at health insurers.

More bad news came in 2025. UnitedHealth Group reported lower-than-expected first-quarter earnings in April. The company lowered its full-year earnings guidance, citing higher Medicare Advantage costs and "unanticipated changes" in Optum's Medicare membership.

However, the situation soon went from bad to worse. In May, UnitedHealth Group suspended its 2025 outlook. The company said that "care activity continued to accelerate" and that the medical costs of new Medicare Advantage members were higher than expected. At the same time, UnitedHealth announced the abrupt departure of CEO Andrew Witty "for personal reasons."

And that wasn't all. The Wall Street Journal reported that the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) had launched a criminal investigation into UnitedHealth Group for potential Medicare fraud. President Donald Trump also said during a press conference that he intends to "cut out the middleman" with prescription drugs, a reference to pharmacy benefits managers (PBMs). UnitedHealth Group's OptumRx ranks as the second-largest PBM.

Temporary issues?

With all this bad news, it's no surprise that UnitedHealth Group's share price has sunk like a brick. However, several of the company's issues could be only temporary.

For example, UnitedHealth Group appears to have moved past the difficulties caused by the cyberattack last year. Insurers have a simple mechanism for addressing higher medical costs: They raise premiums. The higher costs might weigh on earnings over the short term, but profits should rebound relatively quickly. It's a similar story with membership changes that negatively affect financial results in the short term.

UnitedHealth Group stated in a press release that it "expects to return to growth in 2026." I think that's a realistic view.

What about the DOJ investigation? UnitedHealth Group pushed back against The Wall Street Journal article, stating, "We have not been notified by the Department of Justice of the supposed criminal investigation reported, without official attribution." The DOJ hasn't publicly commented on any investigation of UnitedHealth Group.

The company's CEO turnover isn't troubling to me. UnitedHealth Group immediately replaced Witty with Stephen Hemsley, who served as CEO from 2006 through 2017 and remains its chairman of the board of directors. Hemsley knows the business inside and out. I suspect he'll provide the steady leadership UnitedHealth Group needs.

A brilliant bad news buy?

You might have noticed that I didn't include President Trump's desire to "cut out the middleman" in the discussion of UnitedHealth Group's temporary issues. In my opinion, the threat to PBMs is the company's biggest problem. And it's not a temporary one.

That said, I wouldn't bet on PBMs disappearing anytime soon. I also think a strong argument can be made that UnitedHealth Group's problems are fully baked into its share price, with the stock trading at its lowest price-to-earnings multiple in more than a decade.

Is UnitedHealth Group out of the woods yet? No. However, this beleaguered healthcare stock could be a brilliant bad news buy for patient investors.

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 $669,517!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $868,615!*

Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 792% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 171% 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 June 2, 2025

Keith Speights has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends UnitedHealth Group. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

From TV star to powerful government official. That's the path taken by President Donald Trump and his new administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) -- Dr. Mehmet Oz.

Oz was a heart surgeon and medical school professor for years. He achieved fame thanks to frequent appearances on The Oprah Winfrey Show, which led to his hosting his own TV program, The Dr. Oz Show. Oz ran unsuccessfully for a U.S. Senate seat in Pennsylvania in 2022.

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But that didn't end his political career. The Senate officially confirmed Oz to head CMS on April 3. Here's what retirees need to know so far.

1. Oz's confirmation went along party lines

All 53 Republican senators voted to confirm Oz to head CMS. None of the 45 Democratic senators voted for his confirmation. What were the minority party's objections to having Oz run CMS?

For one thing, some Democrats were concerned about Oz's potential conflicts of interest. He has disclosed investments in big drugmakers AbbVie and Eli Lilly and giant health insurer UnitedHealth Group, among others. These healthcare companies receive payments from Medicare. Oz did commit to divesting any financial interests in these companies.

There were also questions raised during Oz's Senate confirmation hearing about his past support for controversial therapies. For example, ranking Democratic member of the Senate Finance Committee, Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, asked Oz about his advocacy of green coffee extract, which the senator said was fraudently marketed as a "miracle weight-loss drug."

Probably the biggest objection to Oz's confirmation, though, was that he wouldn't commit to fighting attempts to cut Medicaid.

2. Oz has previously promoted Medicare Advantage

Oz has been a longtime proponent of Medicare Advantage plans. He and former Kaiser Permanente CEO George Halvorson proposed expanding Medicare Advantage because they believed it's better than traditional Medicare.

It remains to be seen how aggressively Oz will promote Medicare Advantage now that he's running CMS. During his Senate confirmation hearing, he promised to "go after" a fraudulent practice that can be problematic for Medicare Advantage called upcoding, by which healthcare providers file claims for more expensive procedures or diagnoses than the actual procedure or diagnosis to receive a higher reimbursement from Medicare.

3. What Oz says his Medicare priorities are

Oz acknowledged several problems for Medicare during his confirmation hearing, including the fact that healthcare costs are growing faster than the economy and that the Medicare Trust Fund will run out of money within the next decade. He told the told the Senate Finance Committee that he had three top priorities as the administrator of CMS.

First, Oz wants to "empower beneficiaries with better tools and more transparency, so the American people can better navigate their health, as well as dealing with the complex healthcare system we have created for them." He specifically mentioned increasing transparency related to prescription drug costs.

Second, he wants to provide incentives to healthcare providers to "optimize care." Oz thinks that using artificial intelligence (AI) can "liberate doctors and nurses from all the paperwork" and allow them to focus more on patients.

Third, Oz plans to aggressively reduce waste, fraud, and abuse with Medicare and Medicaid. The previously mentioned upcoding issue was one area that he discussed targeting.

4. There has been one Medicare surprise so far

Oz has been at the helm of CMS for less than a week. There has already been one Medicare surprise. On April 8, 2025, CMS announced a higher-than-expected payment increase for Medicare Advantage plans. It's unclear if Oz was involved in the decision, but the move could indicate that he'll continue his previous support for Medicare Advantage plans as head of CMS.

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Keith Speights has positions in AbbVie. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends AbbVie. The Motley Fool recommends UnitedHealth Group. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.