Unum Group Q4 Earnings and Revenues Miss Estimates, Premium Rises Y/Y

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.See the Zacks Earnings Calendar to stay ahead of market-making news.The quarterly results reflected continued strong operating performance, favorable benefit experience, premium growth, increased sales in Unum U.K., offset by a soft performance in the Corporate segment and higher expenses.Unum Group Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise Unum Group price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Unum Group QuoteOperational Update      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. Net investment Income of $543.6 million increased 2.4%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate was $540 million.Total benefits and expenses increased 2.7% year over year to $2.8 billion, largely attributable to lower policy benefits, including remeasurement loss or gain.Quarterly Segment UpdateUnum U.S.: Premium income was $1.7 billion, up 3% year over year.  Adjusted operating income decreased 2.6% year over year to $333.2 million, attributable to lower adjusted operating income across all three business lines. The Zacks Consensus Estimate was pegged at $346 million. Unum International: Premium income of $246.6 million increased 17.1% year over year.  Adjusted operating income was $37.6 million, up 4.6% year over year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate was pegged at $42 million. The Unum U.K. line of business premium income was £156.9 million, up 5.2% from the year-ago quarter due to in-force block growth. Adjusted operating income, in local currency, of £27.6 million was up 10.7% year over year.The benefit ratio, excluding the reserve assumption updates, was 72.1%, which deteriorated 420 basis points (bps) due to unfavorable claim incidence in the group long-term disability and group life product lines, partially offset by favorable claim incidence in the supplemental product line and favorable recoveries in the group long-term disability product line. Sales increased 5%.For 2024, persistency decreased in the group long-term disability and supplemental product line but increased in the group life product line of business.Colonial Life: Premium income increased 3.2% from the prior-year figure to $448.9 million, driven by higher prior period sales and generally stable persistency.Sales decreased 2.2% from the year-ago figure to $185.4 million. Adjusted operating income increased 39.7% from the prior-year period to $122.7 million. The Zacks Consensus Estimate was pegged at $106 million.Persistency was 78.3% in 2024, flat year over year.The benefit ratio, excluding the reserve assumption updates, improved 640 bps year over year to 46.8%, primarily due to favorable benefit experience in cancer and critical illness and life product lines.Closed Block: Adjusted operating income was $27.7 million, up 30% year over year.  The Zacks Consensus Estimate was $37.5 million.Corporate: The segment incurred an adjusted operating loss of $50.4 million, wider than the year-ago quarter’s loss of $36.5 million. The loss widened due to lower net investment income, attributable to increased allocations to lines of business. The Zacks Consensus Estimate was pegged at a loss of $49 million.Full-Year HighlightsAdjusted operating income of $8.44 per share increased 10.1% from 2023. Premium increased 4.5% to $10.5 billion.Capital ManagementAs of Dec. 31, 2024, the weighted average risk-based capital ratio for Unum Group’s traditional U.S. insurance companies was approximately 430%. Unum Group exited 2024 with holding company liquidity worth $2 billion.Book value per share grew 23% year over year to $61.38 as of Dec. 31, 2024. UNM executed accelerated share repurchase agreements totaling $471 million in the fourth quarter.GuidanceUNM expects after-tax adjusted operating income per share to grow 8-12% in 2025. Core operations premium growth is expected between 4% and 7%.Zacks RankUNM currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.Performance of Other InsurersThe Travelers Companies TRV reported fourth-quarter 2024 core income of $9.15 per share, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 39.3% and improved 30.5% year over year. Travelers’ total revenues increased 10.4% from the year-ago quarter to $11.9 billion. The top-line figure beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 1%.Net written premiums increased 7% year over year to a record $10.7 billion, driven by strong growth across all three segments. Our estimate was $10.8 billion. The Zacks Consensus Estimate was pegged at $926 million. TRV witnessed an underwriting gain of $1.4 billion, up 30.5% year over year. The consolidated underlying combined ratio of 84% improved 190 bps year over year.RLI Corp. RLI reported fourth-quarter 2024 operating earnings of 41 cents pershare, which missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 14.5%. The bottom line decreased 46.8% from the prior-year quarter. Operating revenues for the reported quarter were $436 million, up 15.3% year over year, driven by higher net premiums earned and net investment income. The top line matched the Zacks Consensus Estimate.Gross premiums written increased 9% year over year to $473.2 million. This uptick can be attributed to the solid performance of the Casualty segment (up 18.3%). Our estimate was $550 million. Underwriting income of $22.2 million decreased 62.8% year over year. The combined ratio deteriorated 1,170 bps year over year to 94.4%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the metric was pegged at 96%, while our estimate was 102%.W.R. Berkley Corporation’s WRB fourth-quarter 2024 operating income of $1.13 per share beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 20.2%. The bottom line improved 17.7% year over year. Operating revenues were $3.5 billion, up 9.2% year over year. The top line beat the consensus estimate by 4.2%.W.R. Berkley’s net premiums written were $2.9 billion, up 8% year over year. The figure was lower than our estimate of $3 billion. The consolidated combined ratio (a measure of underwriting profitability) deteriorated 180 bps year over year to 90.2%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate was 91%.5 Stocks Set to DoubleEach was handpicked by a Zacks expert as the #1 favorite stock to gain +100% or more in 2024. While not all picks can be winners, previous recommendations have soared +143.0%, +175.9%, +498.3% and +673.0%.Most of the stocks in this report are flying under Wall Street radar, which provides a great opportunity to get in on the ground floor.Today, See These 5 Potential Home Runs >>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 RLI Corp. (RLI): Free Stock Analysis Report The Travelers Companies, Inc. (TRV): Free Stock Analysis Report W.R. Berkley Corporation (WRB): Free Stock Analysis Report Unum Group (UNM): Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment ResearchWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Zacks Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Zacks