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Is It Time to Add W.R. Berkley (WRB) Stock to Your Portfolio?
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Shares of W.R. Berkley Corp (WRB - Free Report) have outperformed the Zacks categorized Property, Casualty and Title Insurance industry in the last three months. Shares of the insurer appreciated 15.5% compared with the industry’s gain of 8.5%. In fact, the shares hit a 52-week high of $67.64 on Jan 18, to finally close the trading session at $67.17, gaining 0.09%.
W.R. Berkley remains focused to shoring up its premiums. Its international expansion initiatives along with start-up units in important parts of the U.S. economy like health care, energy and agriculture have been instrumental in fueling revenues. We note that the company’s top line has increased at a 10-year CAGR of 3.7%. Favorable reserve development and insurance rate increases also will continue to drive the upside.
W.R. Berkley has been deploying capital effectively through shareholder-friendly moves. The company not only hikes its dividend regularly but also pays special dividends and engages in share repurchases. W.R. Berkley’s solid balance sheet with sufficient liquidity and strong cash flows positions it well to enhance shareholders’ value.
Valuation is also attractive at present as the stock is currently trading at a forward P/E of 19.8x, a 20.8% discount to the industry average of 25.0x. Reinsurance Group has a trailing 12-month return on equity (ROE) of 9.3%, higher than the industry average of 7%. Notably, W.R. Berkley carries a VGM score of B. Here V stands for Value, G for Growth and M for Momentum and the score is a weighted combination of these three metrics.
W.R. Berkley is set to report fourth-quarter results on Jan 31, after the closing bell. Our proven model does not conclusively show that the company will beat earnings estimates this quarter. Although the company’s Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) increases the predictive power of an earnings beat, its Earnings ESP of 0.00% makes surprise prediction difficult. Nonetheless, W.R. Berkley delivered positive surprise in three of the last four quarters.
Other Stocks to Consider
Other well-ranked stocks from the insurance industry include Aspen Insurance Holdings Limited , Cincinnati Financial Corporation (CINF - Free Report) and Mercury General Corporation (MCY - Free Report) . All of these stocks have the same Zacks Rank as Cincinnati Financial. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Aspen Insurance Holdings deals in insurance and reinsurance businesses worldwide. The company delivered positive surprise in one of the last four quarters, but with an average miss of 15.48%.
Cincinnati Financial engages in the P&C insurance business in the U.S. The company delivered positive surprises in all of the last four quarters with an average beat of 11.82%.
Mercury General deals in writing personal automobile insurance in the U.S. The company delivered positive surprises in two of the last four quarters, but with an average miss of 21.04%.
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Is It Time to Add W.R. Berkley (WRB) Stock to Your Portfolio?
Shares of W.R. Berkley Corp (WRB - Free Report) have outperformed the Zacks categorized Property, Casualty and Title Insurance industry in the last three months. Shares of the insurer appreciated 15.5% compared with the industry’s gain of 8.5%. In fact, the shares hit a 52-week high of $67.64 on Jan 18, to finally close the trading session at $67.17, gaining 0.09%.
W.R. Berkley remains focused to shoring up its premiums. Its international expansion initiatives along with start-up units in important parts of the U.S. economy like health care, energy and agriculture have been instrumental in fueling revenues. We note that the company’s top line has increased at a 10-year CAGR of 3.7%. Favorable reserve development and insurance rate increases also will continue to drive the upside.
W.R. Berkley has been deploying capital effectively through shareholder-friendly moves. The company not only hikes its dividend regularly but also pays special dividends and engages in share repurchases. W.R. Berkley’s solid balance sheet with sufficient liquidity and strong cash flows positions it well to enhance shareholders’ value.
Valuation is also attractive at present as the stock is currently trading at a forward P/E of 19.8x, a 20.8% discount to the industry average of 25.0x. Reinsurance Group has a trailing 12-month return on equity (ROE) of 9.3%, higher than the industry average of 7%. Notably, W.R. Berkley carries a VGM score of B. Here V stands for Value, G for Growth and M for Momentum and the score is a weighted combination of these three metrics.
W.R. Berkley is set to report fourth-quarter results on Jan 31, after the closing bell. Our proven model does not conclusively show that the company will beat earnings estimates this quarter. Although the company’s Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) increases the predictive power of an earnings beat, its Earnings ESP of 0.00% makes surprise prediction difficult. Nonetheless, W.R. Berkley delivered positive surprise in three of the last four quarters.
Other Stocks to Consider
Other well-ranked stocks from the insurance industry include Aspen Insurance Holdings Limited , Cincinnati Financial Corporation (CINF - Free Report) and Mercury General Corporation (MCY - Free Report) . All of these stocks have the same Zacks Rank as Cincinnati Financial. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Aspen Insurance Holdings deals in insurance and reinsurance businesses worldwide. The company delivered positive surprise in one of the last four quarters, but with an average miss of 15.48%.
Cincinnati Financial engages in the P&C insurance business in the U.S. The company delivered positive surprises in all of the last four quarters with an average beat of 11.82%.
Mercury General deals in writing personal automobile insurance in the U.S. The company delivered positive surprises in two of the last four quarters, but with an average miss of 21.04%.
Zacks’ Best Private Investment Ideas
In addition to the recommendations that are available to the public on our website, how would you like to follow all Zacks' private buys and sells in real time? Our experts cover all kinds of trades… from value to momentum . . . from stocks under $10 to ETF and option moves . . . from stocks that corporate insiders are buying up to companies that are about to report positive earnings surprises. You can even look inside exclusive portfolios that are normally closed to new investors. Starting today, for the next month, you can have unrestricted access. Click here for Zacks' private trades >>