Brighthouse Financial Q4 Earnings Miss, Revenues Beat Estimates

Brighthouse Financial BHF reported fourth-quarter 2024 adjusted net income of $5.88 per share, which missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 32.4%. The bottom line increased 101.4% year over year. The results reflected lower expenses.See the Zacks Earnings Calendar to stay ahead of market-making news.Behind the HeadlinesTotal operating revenues of $2.3 billion increased 62.4% year over year, driven by higher net investment income and other income. The top line beat the consensus mark by 1.9%. Premiums of $207 million decreased 8.4% year over year.Brighthouse Financial, Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise Brighthouse Financial, Inc. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Brighthouse Financial, Inc. QuoteAdjusted net investment income was $1.4 billion in the quarter under review, up 12.2% year over year, primarily driven by asset growth. The adjusted investment income yield was 4.51%. Total expenses were $371 million, down 85.6% year over year, attributable to favorable change in market risk benefits. Corporate expenses, pretax, were $210 million, down 13.9% year over year.Quarterly Segmental UpdateAnnuities recorded an adjusted operating income of $279 million, up 13.9% year over year on higher fees and higher net investment income. Annuity sales decreased 18.3% to $2.5 billion due to lower sales of fixed deferred annuities, partially offset by record sales of Shield Level Annuity. Annuity sales were $10 billion in 2024, driven by record sales of Shield Level Annuities.Life’s adjusted operating income was $52 million, up 13-fold year over year on higher underwriting margin and higher net investment income. Life insurance sales increased 18.9% to $33 million.Life sales were $120 million in 2024, up 18% year over year, driven by sales of Brighthouse SmartCare.Adjusted operating income at Run-off was $27 million against the year-ago loss of $50 million due to higher net investment income and lower expenses, partially offset by a lower underwriting margin.Corporate & Other broke even in the quarter versus a loss of $22 million incurred in the year-ago quarter. The results were driven by a higher tax benefit and lower expenses.Financial UpdateCash and cash equivalents were $5 billion, up 31% year over year. Shareholders’ equity of $5 billion at the end of 2024 increased 0.3% year over year.Book value per share, excluding accumulated other comprehensive income, was $145.63 as of Dec. 31, 2024, up 8.9% year over year. Statutory combined total adjusted capital was $5.4 billion as of Sept. 30, 2024, down 14.3% year over year. As of Dec. 31, 2024, the estimated combined risk-based capital ratio was 400%.Share Buyback ProgramBrighthouse bought back shares worth $250 million in 2024 and another $25 million through Feb. 7, 2025.Zacks RankBHF currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks herePerformance of Other InsurersVoya Financial, Inc. VOYA reported fourth-quarter 2024 adjusted operating earnings of $1.50 per share, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 111.3%. The bottom line decreased 23.8% year over year. The decline was due to higher loss ratios in Stop Loss in Health Solutions and lower spread-based assets in Wealth Solutions. The decline was partially offset by growth in fee-based revenues in Wealth Solutions and Investment Management and higher alternative investment income.Adjusted operating revenues amounted to $1.9 billion, which increased 12.5% year over year.  As of Dec. 31, 2024, VOYA’s assets under management and assets under administration and advisement totaled $893.5 million.Unum Group’s UNM fourth-quarter 2024 operating net income of $2.03 per share missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 4.7%. The bottom line increased 13.4% year over year. Total operating revenues of Unum Group were $3.2 billion, up 2.5% year over year, driven by higher premium income, other income and improved net investment income. The top line missed the consensus estimate by 1.5%.Premium increased 3.1% from the prior-year quarter to $2.6 billion, which matched the Zacks Consensus Estimate.  UNM expects after-tax adjusted operating income per share to grow 8-12% in 2025. Core operations premium growth is expected between 4% and 7%.Lincoln National Corporation LNC reported fourth-quarter 2024 adjusted earnings per share of $1.91, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 9.8%. The bottom line advanced nearly 30% year over year. Adjusted operating revenues were $4.6 billion, which more than doubled year over year. However, the top line fell short of the consensus mark by 1%.LNC’s estimated RBC ratio rose to more than 430% at fourth-quarter end. Insurance premiums totaled $1.59 billion, while the metric was recorded at a negative figure of $1.1 billion. However, the metric was lower than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.62 billion.Zacks Names #1 Semiconductor StockIt's only 1/9,000th the size of NVIDIA which skyrocketed more than +800% since we recommended it. NVIDIA is still strong, but our new top chip stock has much more room to boom.With strong earnings growth and an expanding customer base, it's positioned to feed the rampant demand for Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Internet of Things. Global semiconductor manufacturing is projected to explode from $452 billion in 2021 to $803 billion by 2028.See This Stock Now for Free >>Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Lincoln National Corporation (LNC): Free Stock Analysis Report Unum Group (UNM): Free Stock Analysis Report Voya Financial, Inc. (VOYA): Free Stock Analysis Report Brighthouse Financial, Inc. 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