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

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Key Takeaways

  • Globe Life's revenue growth is fueled by gains in life and health insurance premiums and investment income.
  • American Income and Liberty National divisions are set to drive sales with stronger productivity.
  • A solid liquidity base and consistent dividend hikes underscore Globe Life's strong capital management.

Shares of Globe Life Inc. (GL - Free Report) have gained 22.9% in the past year, outperforming its industry, the Finance sector and the Zacks S&P 500 composite’s growth of 3.9%, 12% and 17.5%, respectively. 

The insurer has a market capitalization of $10.66 billion. The average volume of shares traded in the last three months was 0.5 million.

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Globe Life surpassed earnings estimates in each of the last four quarters, the average being 0.65%.

GL Trading Above 200-Day Moving Average

Shares of Assurant closed at $133.97 on Thursday, and are trading above the 200-day simple moving average (SMA) of $128.69, indicating solid upward momentum. SMA is a widely used technical analysis tool to predict future price trends by analyzing historical price data.

GL Shares are Affordable

Globe Life shares are trading at a discount compared to the industry. Its forward price-to-earnings multiple of 8.95X is lower than the industry average of 12.64X, the Finance sector’s 17.67X and the Zacks S&P 500 Composite’s 23.74X. 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.

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Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

GL’s Growth Projection Encourages

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Globe Life’s 2025 earnings per share indicates a year-over-year increase of 17.8%. The consensus estimate for revenues is pegged at $6.03 billion, implying a year-over-year improvement of 4.4%. 

The consensus estimate for 2026 earnings per share and revenues indicates an increase of 3.1% 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%.

Target Price Reflects Potential Upside

Based on short-term price targets offered by 13 analysts, the Zacks average price target is $165.54 per share. The average indicates a potential 25.1% upside from the last closing price.

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Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

GL’s Return on Capital

GL’s trailing 12-month return on equity is 21.8%, ahead of the industry average of 14.9%. 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 12.9%, 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 Points to Note for 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. 

Globe Life expects net life sales to increase around 3% at American Income, around 1% at Liberty National, and nearly 4% at direct-to-consumer in 2025. The company expects Net health sales to remain flat at Liberty National, to increase around 13% at Family Heritage, and around 50% at United American in 2025.

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%.

Wrapping Up: Keep on Holding

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, and 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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