UnitedHealth's $3.3 Billion Asset Sales Helped Sustain 15-Year Earnings Streak Amid Pressure

For approximately 15 years, or 60 quarters, UnitedHealth Group Inc. (NYSE:UNH) has consistently reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings.

However, in the fourth quarter of 2024, the insurance giant reported mixed earnings, and in the first quarter of 2025, earnings fell short of expectations. UnitedHealth blamed rising medical costs.

According to a Bloomberg report, the company extended its 15-year streak of beating Wall Street earnings expectations in 2024, but only with the help of asset sales that analysts later described as unusual and potentially misleading.

The healthcare giant sold stakes in business units to private equity firms Warburg Pincus and KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE:KKR) late last year, quietly generating $3.3 billion in profit that helped bolster fourth-quarter earnings.

These transactions, many finalized just before the year-end ...