UnitedHealth has been the Dow’s worst performer of 2025, but jumped 13% Friday. Here’s why Buffett and other leading hedge funds suddenly love the stock.

The Oracle of Omaha just took a $1.6 billion stake in the battered healthcare giant, sending shares soaring 9% after hours.

UNH stock soared after Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway revealed it bought shares of the healthcare company. Nonetheless, UnitedHealth faces a long list of unresolved issues.

UnitedHealth shares clocked the largest one-day percent increase since March 2020, as tracked by Dow Jones Market Data Group. It was on pace for the best day in 17 years before giving back some of those gains. For the week, shares rose over 21%, the best week since May 2009. Still, the stock is down more than 50% over the past 12 months.

Buffett owned UnitedHealth shares before selling his stake in 2010, though his Berkshire Hathaway recently acquired shares.

Berkshire Hathaway revealed four new investments Thursday in steelmaker Nucor, insurer UnitedHealth and two of the nation’s biggest homebuilders — Lennar and DR Horton — but only one of the investments was big enough to ensure that legendary investor Warren Buffett may have handled them.

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway built a $1.6 billion stake in UnitedHealth last quarter, marking one of its last wagers with the investor as CEO.