Buffett’s Magic Touch Still Working: UnitedHealth Dominates August Markets

Warren Buffett's golden touch continues defying market logic—UnitedHealth just posted another monster month while traditional analysts scratch their heads.

THE ORACLE'S HEALTHCARE BET PAYS OFF (AGAIN)

UnitedHealth's stock ripped through August like a bull market on steroids, leaving the S&P 500 eating dust. No fancy algorithms or hedge fund sorcery here—just old-school value investing doing what it does best: printing money while tech stocks hyperventilate about AI.

INSURANCE GIANT OUTPERFORMS CRYPTO—WITHOUT THE DRAMA

While crypto bros were sweating over Bitcoin's latest 10% swing, UnitedHealth delivered steady gains that would make any DeFi protocol blush. The company's revenue streams—actual real-world cash flows, not speculative tokenomics—kept pumping like a well-oiled machine.

WALL STREET'S WORST NIGHTMARE: CONSISTENT PROFITS

Analysts hate this one simple trick: buy boring companies with actual earnings and hold them forever. UnitedHealth's August surge proves Buffett's strategy still works—even in an era where financial Twitter thinks 'fundamentals' means which influencer shilled your altcoin.

Let's be real: in a world where 'fintech innovation' means yet another NFT project, watching a healthcare insurer quietly crush markets is almost... refreshing. Almost.

‘Really Tough Year’

“Investors in UnitedHealth have had a really tough year,” said Utterback, who tracks the stock’s decline to early December, when former executive Brian Thompson was fatally shot outside an investor conference in New York. The stock is still down 40% in 2025 and is trading at a little more than $300. Utterback has a buy rating and $400 price target on the shares.

Thompson’s murder, which was a targeted attack aimed at UnitedHealth’s leadership, helped send the Dow on its longest losing streak since the 1970s. At the same time, the insurer’s stock fell from the biggest weight in the 30-member index to seventh.

But since the Berkshire Hathaway stake was revealed after the market closed on Aug. 14, Wall Street has turned incrementally positive on UnitedHealth. And more broadly, investors are starting to see some momentum from the entire health-care sector. Jonathan Krinsky, chief market technician at BTIG, says he’s “sticking with health care for a more defensive posture” and because it’s the best-performing sector in the market in August.A

As for UnitedHealth, it may be more attractive as a longer-term position.

“If you can take a five-year view (on UnitedHealth), you likely will do well,” analysts at BofA Securities wrote in a note to clients on Monday that was subtitled “Berkshire is in, should you be?” The bank raised also its price target on the stock to $325 from $290.

And when it comes to dragging the Dow to a new closing high, the company still needs some help.

“The rest of the stocks still need to be able to rally,” said Matt Maley, chief market strategist at Miller Tabak + Co., though he added that removing the biggest drag on the index is a positive sign. “The DJIA is something the individual investor watches more closely than the pros.”

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