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GL Outperforms Industry, Trades at a Discount: How to Play the Stock

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Key Takeaways

  • Globe Life shares have gained 44% in the past year compared with the industry's growth of 26.9%.
  • GL targets a 300% to 320% consolidated RBC ratio for 2025, supporting financial strength.
  • The American Income and Liberty National divisions are expected to fuel future top-line growth.

Shares of Globe Life Inc. (GL - Free Report) have gained 44% in the past year, outperforming its industry, the Finance sector and the Zacks S&P 500 composite’s growth of 26.9%, 19.9% and 11.4%, respectively. 

The insurer has a market capitalization of $10.13 billion. The average volume of shares traded in the last three months was 0.6 million.
Globe Life’s bottom line surpassed earnings in three of the last four quarters and missed in one, the average being 3.22%.

GL Outperforms Industry, Sector, S&P 500 in 1 Year

Zacks Investment Research
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GL Shares are Affordable

Globe Life shares are trading at a discount compared to the industry. Its forward price-to-earnings multiple of 8.48X is lower than the industry average of 12.45X, the Finance sector’s 16.29X and the Zacks S&P 500 Composite’s 21.82X. Also, it has a Value Score of A.

Shares of other insurers like Unum Group (UNM - Free Report) are also trading at a discount to the industry average, while AMERISAFE, Inc. (AMSF - Free Report) and Aflac Incorporated (AFL - Free Report) are trading at a multiple.

Zacks Investment Research
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GL’s Growth Projection Encourages

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Globe Life’s 2025 earnings per share indicates a year-over-year increase of 10%. The consensus estimate for revenues is pegged at $6.05 billion, implying a year-over-year improvement of 4.6%. The consensus estimate for 2026 earnings per share and revenues indicates an increase of 9.7% and 5%, respectively, from the corresponding 2025 estimates. 

Earnings have grown 13.3% in the past five years, better than the industry average of 5.5%.

GL Trading Above 200-Day Moving Average

Shares of Assurant closed at $120.29 on Wednesday and are trading above the 200-day simple moving average (SMA) of $114.64, indicating solid upward momentum. SMA is a widely used technical analysis tool to predict future price trends by analyzing historical price data.

GL Stock Price Movement vs. 200-Day Moving Average

Zacks Investment Research
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Target Price Reflects Potential Upside

Based on short-term price targets offered by 12 analysts, the Zacks average price target is $142.42 per share. The average indicates a potential 15.9% upside from the last closing price.

Zacks Investment Research
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Mixed Analyst Sentiment in GL

Two of the seven analysts covering the stock have raised estimates for 2025, while two analysts have lowered the same for 2026 over the past 30 days. Thus, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2025 earnings has moved up 0.1% in the past 30 days, while the same for 2026 has moved down 0.1% in the same time frame.

GL’s Return on Capital

GL’s trailing 12-month return on equity is 21.4%, ahead of the industry average of 15.5%. Return on equity, a profitability measure, reflects how effectively a company is utilizing its shareholders. 

Also, the return on invested capital (ROIC) in the trailing 12 months was 12.7%, better than the industry average of 7.6%. Its ROIC has been increasing over the last few quarters amid capital investment made over the same time frame. This reflects the company’s efficiency in utilizing funds to generate income.

Key Drivers of Globe Life

Globe Life has been witnessing a positive trend in revenues, driven by premium growth in its Life Insurance and Health Insurance segments and net investment income. 

The strong performance of the American Income and Liberty National divisions should drive the top line in the future. Liberty National is likely to continue to benefit from improved productivity and agent count. GL’s expansion initiatives to capture heavily populated and less penetrated areas should drive growth in the future. Net life sales, as well as net health sales, are expected to grow in the mid-teens for Liberty National.

Moreover, net investment income continues to be another important driver of the company’s top-line growth and has been exhibiting improvement over the last few years. The metric is likely to keep growing, riding on improved invested assets and higher interest rates on new investments.

The company has maintained a strong liquidity position with sufficient cash-generation capabilities. Its operations comprise writing basic protection life and supplemental health insurance policies, which generate strong and stable cash flows. For 2025, Globe Life has targeted a consolidated Company Action Level RBC ratio of 300% to 320%.

A strong capital position enables Globe Life to enhance its shareholder value via share buybacks and dividend payouts. The insurer has continuously been increasing its dividend over the past eight years (2017-2024), witnessing a CAGR of 7%.

Conclusion

Globe Life’s higher life and health sales, improved invested assets, increased productivity and agent count, strong liquidity position and effective capital deployment make it an attractive stock. Globe Life also has a VGM Score of B. Stocks with a favorable VGM Score are those with the most attractive value, best growth and most promising momentum compared with peers. 

Higher return on capital, favorable growth estimates, as well as attractive valuations, should continue to benefit the insurer over the long term. The stock currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.


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