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CNO Financial's (CNO) Q1 Earnings, Revenues Beat Estimates

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CNO Financial Group, Inc.’s (CNO - Free Report) first-quarter 2017 net operating earnings of 34 cents per share surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 9.7%. The bottom line also improved 26% year over year on higher revenues.
 

 

CNO Financial’s total revenue increased 11.4% year over year to $1 billion. The top line also topped the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 10.1%.

Total collected premiums were $940.0 million, up 5% from the prior-year quarter. New annualized premiums for life and health products amounted to $91.3 million, down 3% from the year-ago quarter.

Quarterly Segment Update

Bankers Life

Total collected premiums were $687.8 million, up 4% year over year. This was primarily due to an increase in premiums from annuity products.

New annualized premiums decreased 3% year over year to $44.9 million due to lower sales of life products.

Pre-tax operating earnings grew 16% over the last-year quarter on the back of higher spread income on annuities, favorable margins on the long-term care and Medicare supplement blocks.

WashingtonNational

Total collected premiums were $173.1 million, up 5% year over year. This was primarily due to higher sales of supplemental health products.

New Annualized premiums from life and health products were $24.6 million, up 5% from the last-year quarter.

Pre-tax operating earnings were down 11% year over year due to lower margins on the supplemental health block than the last-year quarter.

Colonial Penn

Total collected premiums were $74.5 million, up 6.3% year over year. This was primarily due to recent sales activity and steady persistency.

New annualized premiums were $21.8 million, down 10% from the year-ago quarter. Lower lead volume, primarily due to reduced marketing expenses, resulted in the deterioration.

The pre-tax operating loss was $0.3 million, narrower than a loss of $6.8 million in first-quarter 2016. The improvement was driven by reduced marketing expenses. 

Corporate Operations

The segment includes performance of the investment advisory subsidiary and corporate expenses.

Pre-tax loss was $8.9 million, wider than a loss of $8.1 million in the year-ago quarter. This was primarily due to higher expenses, partially offset by favorable investment returns.

CNO Financial Group, Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

 

CNO Financial Group, Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise | CNO Financial Group, Inc. Quote

Financial Update

Unrestricted cash and investments held by CNO Financial’sholding company were $314 million at Mar 31, 2016, up 19% over year-end 2016.

Book value per common share increased to $26.77 from $25.82 at year-end 2016. Book value per diluted share, excluding accumulated other comprehensive income, increased to $22.31 from $22.02 as of Dec 31, 2016

Consolidated risk-based capital ratio was 446% as of Mar 31, 2016. This reflects estimated statutory operating earnings of $70 millionand insurance company dividends to the holding company of $128.4 million during the first three months of 2017.

Securities Repurchase and Divided Update

During the quarter, CNO Financial repurchased shares worth $43 millionand paid dividends of $14 million.

Zacks Rank and Performance of Other Multiline Insurers

CNO Financial 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 Insurers

Among other players from the insurance space that have reported their first-quarter earnings so far, the bottom line at The Progressive Corporation (PGR - Free Report) , The Travelers Companies, Inc. (TRV - Free Report) and RLI Corp. (RLI - Free Report) missed their respective Zacks Consensus Estimate.

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