{"id":719849,"date":"2026-06-22T20:47:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-22T20:47:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/719849\/"},"modified":"2026-06-22T20:47:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-22T20:47:11","slug":"both-berkshire-hathaway-and-david-tepper-silently-dumped-the-same-healthcare-giant-in-the-same-quarter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/719849\/","title":{"rendered":"Both Berkshire Hathaway and David Tepper Silently Dumped the Same Healthcare Giant in the Same Quarter"},"content":{"rendered":"

Warren Buffett\u2019s Berkshire Hathaway\u00a0(NYSE:BRK.B<\/a> | BRK.B Price Prediction<\/a>)\u00a0fully exited its UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH<\/a>) position in Q1 2026, and David Tepper\u2019s Appaloosa Management meaningfully reduced its UNH stake in the same quarter. Chase Coleman also sold UnitedHealth shares in Q1. Meanwhile, the sell-side stayed bullish, with a consensus target of $407.38 and 22 buy or strong buy ratings against a single sell.<\/p>\n

Two of the most scrutinized capital allocators in the business walked out the same door, in the same quarter. That is worth thinking about.<\/p>\n

What Berkshire and Tepper walked away from<\/p>\n

UNH is not a broken business. Q1 2026 produced adjusted EPS of $7.23 against a $6.61 consensus, revenue of $111.72 billion, and a medical care ratio that improved 90 basis points to 83.9%. Management raised full-year adjusted EPS guidance to greater than $18.25. The stock is up 22.66% year to date through June 17 and 32.82% over the trailing year.<\/p>\n

The path to get there involved shrinking. UnitedHealthcare lost 965,000 Medicare Advantage members in Q1 2026 alone, and the 2026 plan calls for a 2.3 to 2.8 million membership contraction from exits of unprofitable contracts. Margin recovery achieved by shedding members is real. It is also structurally different from margin recovery driven by pricing power.<\/p>\n

The thesis behind the exits<\/p>\n

Three forward-looking pressures appear to be sitting on the trade. First, preliminary 2027 Medicare Advantage rate announcements<\/a> came in below expectations, the same catalyst SGA Global Growth Fund cited on June 17, 2026 when it sold its entire UNH stake. Second, a federal OIG report on June 12, 2026 documented post-hospital care denial rates of 51 to 80% at UnitedHealth\u2019s Medicare Advantage plans, well above peers. Fairview Health Services said the same week it will stop accepting UnitedHealthcare Medicare Advantage in 2027, affecting more than 11,000 patients.<\/p>\n

Third, Optum Health\u2019s profitability is rebuilding slower than the Street modeled. Q1 2026 Optum operating earnings of $3.3 billion still trail the prior-year $3.89 billion, even after Q3 2025\u2019s collapse to $255 million from $2.2 billion. Forward P\/E sits at 22x, expensive against quarterly earnings growth of 0.7% and revenue growth of 2%.<\/p>\n

What this signals for a retirement portfolio<\/p>\n

Institutional exits do not automatically equal a verdict. Berkshire trims names for tax, concentration, and opportunity-cost reasons that have nothing to do with a company being doomed. Tepper rotates aggressively and frequently. Both have been wrong on individual names. UNH\u2019s 0.65 beta and 2.15% dividend yield still make it a defensive holding by construction.<\/p>\n

The useful question is whether the bull case rests on assumptions Berkshire and Tepper rejected. Analyst price targets are anchored to Q1 2026\u2019s margin reset and a clean ramp into 2027. If preliminary 2027 Medicare Advantage rates land where they hint, and if denial-rate scrutiny translates into either rate pressure or forced approvals, both feed straight back into the medical care ratio. That single variable took UNH down to a 52-week low of $228.48.<\/p>\n

For a retirement-focused investor, the takeaway is narrower than copying the billionaires. The bullish thesis depends on a 2027 rate environment that two sophisticated holders apparently no longer want to underwrite. Worth weighing before deciding whether the year-to-date rally is the recovery itself or the exit ramp.<\/p>\n

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