UnitedHealth Group, Inc. (NYSE:UNH)

Bargain picking on companies with solid track record and good valuation. UNH fills those conditions. The company has dropped hugely from its highs recently, but the news have not been bad at all.

This company has scale to leverage on. Its industry might be in turmoil in the coming years, in turmoil the companies that have the largest market share are often the ones who benefit in the end.

Healthcare is good in a down economy, what more can you say?

Well managed, picture perfect balance sheet, severely undervalued. Decreased profit margins in this market are just temporary...UNH is a giant, will continue to grow, and is a steal at this price.

Way too low of a price for this market boheameth. After some sales force restructuring we should see better margins here.

stock is very cheap for a PE of 7.

I will probably be down in caps on this one short term, but long term I think this is a solid performer against S&P. My favorite large cap stock out there priced for negative growth. This company spits out a lot of cash. Can the government really impair this business that much. I think the stock price accounts for a pretty bad case scenerio, and I am buying while there is blood in the streets.

A turnaround pick in the out-of-favor health insurance space.

Buy and hold. This one's a long term investment.

Buffett pick on sell, fear driving it down, what more could you want

I don't like this stock because of all the political and industry headwinds. I don't like the problems that UNH has been dealing with internally. I don't like the margins getting squeezed with escalating medical costs and increased competition. However, this stock has dropped from a recent high of $59.46 on 12/24/2007 to about $26 today. With a P/E ratio of 7.34 and a PEG ratio of .56 and consensus EPS of $3.52 for 08, I can no longer hate this stock. Company is stable overall and decisively undervalued. I expect it to get back to low $30s by the end of summer 08 and make a 50% gain by December 09.

Getting punished... reasonable valuation suggests $90+ per share.

We keep hearing about health care costs going up so I thought this would be a good pick - it is a really large insurer. So far have been extremely disappointed in the performance and am debating selling.

Good place to start building a position; now trading close to the 52 week low. An excellent value play with these earnings, and price of stock.

The Health Care Sector should be bought now.

Such fooloish oversight from some of the fools. I agree that this is no golden company and the high medical expenses are going to provide the industry with some pain this year. But the facts, as I always like to say are:

- at a beta of 0.5 this is a good portfolio stock to balance against market risk. With 0 growth, this should trade at about 12 times earnings and it is currently at the lowly level of 8!!!

- The company is growing, despite margin pressure.

This is better value than everyhting but your rebate cheque.

Now is the time to buy. Sell at $38/share.

UNH looks ready to take another run up

Entered short at 31.90. Look to cover at 25-27.00 Will short on upward spikes. Company has a poor track record among employers and individual policy buyers of paying claims in a timely fashion. It's pricing power as seen at Wellpoint (WP) is slipping as enrollment numbers drop and expenses rise.

Too much bullish sentiment on this board. It appears investors haven't distinguished between health care providers and health care insurers very well.

As Health Insurance costs occupy more and more of people's income along with rising gas prices and food, it will be seen as a risk to drop, but a necessity to survive. The company seems blissfully unaware that it's priced it product beyond the reach of most and provides lousy service to those who do buy their product.

A number of years back, Health Insurance was not seen as a viable for profit business. It was generally carried by multi-line insurance carriers as a lose leader to sell other more profitable products.

Amiable regulators purchased with intense lobbying produced a golden period in the last 8 years for Health Insurers to grow and profit as they raised prices 78%. However, as this administration comes to an end, it's almost inevitable that regulatory agencies will implement new rules that will clamp down on discriminatory practices on pre-existing conditions, routine claim denials and policy termination for large claims.

Unlike multi-line insurers, Health Insurance companies cannot invest their float in long term higher yielding instruments as the need for liquidity is much higher. That doesn't mean there may be some toxic CDOs in their long term investment portfolios. Even if they are clean, they cannot depend on their float to grow or even maintain current levels of profitability.

UNH is the worst of the worst. However there isn't much difference between UNH and the best. I believe this sector has seen it's day. Ultimately this will become a boutique business for the wealthy with poor growth prospects if service is lousy. It doesn't justify it's current market cap.

Short on spikes, cover on the dips on a slow over-all descent.

Healthcare will always be a need in this country.

Incredible entry point at just a little above 30.00 dollars. I can see this stock short term falling to 27-28 range but having a great pick up in the next 2-5 years.

Load Up while this bad boy is cheap!

People are overreacting. I'd pick this stock up for a real account at this price.