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GL Outperforms Industry, Trades Above 50-Day SMA: What's Next?

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Key Takeaways

  • Globe Life shares have gained 39.8% in the past year compared with the industry's growth of 7.9%.
  • 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 39.8% in the past year, outperforming its industry, the Finance sector and the Zacks S&P 500 composite’s growth of 7.9%, 17.3% and 16.1%, respectively. 

The insurer has a market capitalization of $11.01 billion. The average volume of shares traded in the last three months was 0.6 million.

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Globe Life’s bottom line surpassed earnings in three of the last four quarters and missed in one, the average being 2.77%.

GL Trading Above 50-Day Moving Averages

Shares of Assurant closed at $135.99 on Aug. 18, near its 52-week high of $144. This proximity underscores investor confidence. It has the ingredients for further price appreciation. The stock is trading above the 50-day simple moving average (SMA) of $127.32, indicating solid upward momentum. SMA is a widely used technical analysis tool to predict future price trends by analyzing historical price data.

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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 9.19X is lower than the industry average of 12.16X, the Finance sector’s 16.9X and the Zacks S&P 500 Composite’s 22.86X. Also, it has a Value Score of B.

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.

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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 15.7%. The consensus estimate for revenues is pegged at $6.04 billion, implying a year-over-year improvement of 4.5%. 

The consensus estimate for 2026 earnings per share and revenues indicates an increase of 5.3% and 5.1%, respectively, from the corresponding 2025 estimates. 

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

Optimistic Analyst Sentiment for GL

Six of the seven analysts covering the stock have raised estimates for both 2025 and four analysts have raised the same for 2026 over the past 30 days. Thus, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2025 and 2026 earnings has moved north 5.3% and 1% in the past 30 days, respectively.

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Target Price Reflects Potential Upside

Based on short-term price targets offered by 13 analysts, the Zacks average price target is $159.77 per share. The average indicates a potential 17.9% upside from the last closing price.

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GL’s Return on Capital

GL’s trailing 12-month return on equity is 21.2%, ahead of the industry average of 15%. 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 12.4%, better than the industry average of 7.3%. 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.

What's Aiding Globe Life's Performance?

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%.

End Notes

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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