UnitedHealth Group Inc.’s leadership transition, with the company’s new chief executive announced on Wednesday, was praised by two Wall Street analysts that same day. Under the announcement, President David Wichmann will become CEO starting September 1 and current CEO Stephen Hemsley will become executive chairman of the board of directors. “Management is the single most important factor in our view of UNH – and with Hemsley staying in a very important operating/strategic role, we are very comfortable with this change,” said Mizuho analyst Sheryl Skolnick. “That’s critical to us – that Steve, who made the transition from ‘the guy who makes the trains run on time’ to the single most visionary health care executive we know who is one superb ‘operator,’ is staying on in that strategic role… the guardians of the UNH galaxy are firmly in place.” Wichmann taking over as CEO is also crucial, said Skolnick, describing him as “the keeper of keys – having done practically every acquisition over the last 20 years, no one knows better where the jewels are hidden in the organization, nor how to run the still-important health plan.” Though the transition news comes sooner than expected and “while Stephen Hemsley has been an iconic CEO and these are big shoes to fill, in our view the company will continue successfully along its game-changing path of shaping health care in America and beyond its borders, with no change expected in the strategy,” said Leerink Partners analyst Ana Gupte. Hemsley’s continued involvement as executive chairman will also likely ease the transition, Gupte said. UnitedHealth shares have surged 15.7% over the last three months, compared with a 2.7% rise in the S&P 500 .
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