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Should You Add AXIS Capital (AXS) Stock to Your Portfolio?
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Shares of Axis Capital Holdings Limited (AXS - Free Report) outperformed the Zacks categorized Property and Casualty Insurance industry in the last three months. Shares gained 17.08% compared with the 12.46% gain recorded by the industry.
New business opportunities across AXIS Capital’s lines of business and geography have been driving higher premium writings. This in turn has fueled revenues, increasing at a 10-year CAGR of 3.7%. The insurer has also been improving its portfolio mix and underwriting profitability apart from strengthening the casualty and professional lines in the insurance segment, particularly motor and reinsurance.
AXIS Capital remains focused on deploying resources prudently, enhancing efficiencies and better serving clients and brokers across the globe.
AXIS Capital also intends to pay back at least 100% of annual operating earnings to its shareholders via common dividends and share repurchases, unless it finds other growth avenues to invest. Last month, the board of directors of AXIS Capital approved an 8% hike in its quarterly dividend and a $1 billion share buyback program. This too makes the stock an attractive pick.
AXIS Capital has beaten expectation in the last four quarters. However, our proven model does not conclusively state if the company will beat estimates in the to-be-reported quarter. This is because though a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) increases the predictive power of an earnings beat, its Earnings ESP of 0.00% makes prediction difficult. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the fourth quarter is currently pegged at 87 cents.
Earnings estimates improved by a couple of cents over the last 30 days. AXIS Capital continues to build on Specialty Insurance, Reinsurance, and Accident and Health — to pave way for long-term growth. Long-term expected earnings growth is currently pegged at 8.5%.
The stock seems attractive on the price to earnings and price to book value basis as well. While its P/E ratio is 15.4, reflecting a discount of 47% to the industry average, P/B is 1.1 lower than the industry average of 1.5. Return on equity of 8.6% is higher than the industry average of 7.0%. This makes the stock a great pick.
Stocks to Consider
Investors interested in the insurance industry can consider stocks like Arch Capital Group Ltd. (ACGL - Free Report) and Primerica, Inc. (PRI - Free Report) , and State National Companies Inc .
State National Companies offers property and casualty insurance in the United States. The company delivered positive surprises in two of the last four quarters with an average beat of 21.28%. The stock sports a Zacks Rank #1. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Arch Capital offers property, casualty, and mortgage insurance and reinsurance products worldwide. It delivered positive surprises in all of the last four quarters with an average beat of 9.27%. The stock carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
Primerica – a distributor of financial products to middle income households in the U.S. and Canada – delivered positive surprises in the trailing four quarters with an average beat of 6.4%. The company has Zacks Rank #2.
Zacks' Top 10 Stocks for 2017In addition to the stocks discussed above, would you like to know about our 10 finest tickers for the entirety of 2017? Who wouldn't? These 10 are painstakingly hand-picked from 4,400 companies covered by the Zacks Rank. They are our primary picks to buy and hold. Be among the very first to see them>>
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Should You Add AXIS Capital (AXS) Stock to Your Portfolio?
Shares of Axis Capital Holdings Limited (AXS - Free Report) outperformed the Zacks categorized Property and Casualty Insurance industry in the last three months. Shares gained 17.08% compared with the 12.46% gain recorded by the industry.
New business opportunities across AXIS Capital’s lines of business and geography have been driving higher premium writings. This in turn has fueled revenues, increasing at a 10-year CAGR of 3.7%. The insurer has also been improving its portfolio mix and underwriting profitability apart from strengthening the casualty and professional lines in the insurance segment, particularly motor and reinsurance.
AXIS Capital remains focused on deploying resources prudently, enhancing efficiencies and better serving clients and brokers across the globe.
AXIS Capital also intends to pay back at least 100% of annual operating earnings to its shareholders via common dividends and share repurchases, unless it finds other growth avenues to invest. Last month, the board of directors of AXIS Capital approved an 8% hike in its quarterly dividend and a $1 billion share buyback program. This too makes the stock an attractive pick.
AXIS Capital has beaten expectation in the last four quarters. However, our proven model does not conclusively state if the company will beat estimates in the to-be-reported quarter. This is because though a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) increases the predictive power of an earnings beat, its Earnings ESP of 0.00% makes prediction difficult. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the fourth quarter is currently pegged at 87 cents.
Earnings estimates improved by a couple of cents over the last 30 days. AXIS Capital continues to build on Specialty Insurance, Reinsurance, and Accident and Health — to pave way for long-term growth. Long-term expected earnings growth is currently pegged at 8.5%.
The stock seems attractive on the price to earnings and price to book value basis as well. While its P/E ratio is 15.4, reflecting a discount of 47% to the industry average, P/B is 1.1 lower than the industry average of 1.5. Return on equity of 8.6% is higher than the industry average of 7.0%. This makes the stock a great pick.
Stocks to Consider
Investors interested in the insurance industry can consider stocks like Arch Capital Group Ltd. (ACGL - Free Report) and Primerica, Inc. (PRI - Free Report) , and State National Companies Inc .
State National Companies offers property and casualty insurance in the United States. The company delivered positive surprises in two of the last four quarters with an average beat of 21.28%. The stock sports a Zacks Rank #1. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Arch Capital offers property, casualty, and mortgage insurance and reinsurance products worldwide. It delivered positive surprises in all of the last four quarters with an average beat of 9.27%. The stock carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
Primerica – a distributor of financial products to middle income households in the U.S. and Canada – delivered positive surprises in the trailing four quarters with an average beat of 6.4%. The company has Zacks Rank #2.
Zacks' Top 10 Stocks for 2017In addition to the stocks discussed above, would you like to know about our 10 finest tickers for the entirety of 2017? Who wouldn't? These 10 are painstakingly hand-picked from 4,400 companies covered by the Zacks Rank. They are our primary picks to buy and hold. Be among the very first to see them>>