Stealth Stake Sales Helped UnitedHealth Beat Wall Street Targets

Until this year, UnitedHealth Group Inc. had managed to pull off an impressive feat: more than 60 consecutive quarters of earnings that beat Wall Street estimates.

As the end of last year approached, that streak was getting harder to maintain. Ballooning medical costs and stricter government payment policies were eroding the health conglomerate’s profit margin.

But shortly before the books closed for 2024, more profits appeared. They came from the discreet sale of stakes in business units to firms including Warburg Pincus and KKR & Co., according to people familiar with the matter. Some of the deals included terms ...