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VOYA Stock Trading at Discount to Industry at 0.98X: Time to Hold?
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Key Takeaways
VOYA's growth is fueled by solid results across Retirement, Investment Management, and Employee Benefits.
Retirement gains from onboarded assets, favorable markets, higher investment income and disciplined spending.
Investment Management benefits from higher capital returns, fee revenues and a long-term Allianz partnership.
Voya Financial, Inc. (VOYA - Free Report) shares are trading at a discount compared to the Zacks Life Insurance industry. Its forward price-to-book value of 0.98X is lower than the industry average of 1.89X, the Finance sector’s 4.24X and the Zacks S&P 500 Composite’s 8.56X. The life insurer has a Value Score of A.
The insurer has a market capitalization of $6.71 billion. The average volume of shares traded in the last three months was 0.7 million. The stock remains attractively valued compared with Primerica, Inc. (PRI - Free Report) , Manulife Financial Corp. (MFC - Free Report) and Sun Life Financial Inc. (SLF - Free Report) .
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Earnings of Voya Financial grew 12.2% in the last five years, better than the industry average of 7.8%. VOYA has a solid surprise history. It has a solid track record of beating earnings estimates in each of the last four quarters, the average being 42.92%.
Voya Financial shares have gained 1.2% in the year-to-date period compared with the industry’s growth of 4.5%. The Zacks S&P 500 index and the Finance sector have returned 15.5% and 19.2%, respectively, in the said time frame.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
VOYA’s Growth Projection Encourages
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Voya Financial’s 2025 earnings per share indicates a year-over-year increase of 46.5%. The consensus estimate for revenues is pegged at $1.34 billion, implying a year-over-year improvement of 24.6%.
The consensus estimate for 2026 earnings per share and revenues indicates an increase of 12.2% and 3.6%, respectively, from the corresponding 2025 estimates.
Optimistic Analyst Sentiment on VOYA
Each of the five analysts covering the stock has raised estimates for 2025, while two analysts have raised the same for 2026 over the past 60 days. Thus, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2025 and 2026 moved 3% and 0.09% north, respectively, in the last 60 days.
Factors Acting in Favor of VOYA
VOYA’s earnings are driven by its solid segmental performances across Retirement, Investment Management and Employee Benefits segments. These businesses reflect higher-growth, capital-light and higher-return units, boasting the company’s solid presence in the market.
The Retirement segment is steadily witnessing significant growth on the back of higher revenues reflecting onboarded OneAmerica assets, favorable market impacts, higher alternative investment income and active portfolio management, positive defined contribution flows, as well as disciplined management of spend. Given continued commercial momentum, margins remain above the long-term targets. This, in turn, should drive higher fee income, strong spread income and prudent management of spend.
The Investment Management segment should benefit from higher investment capital returns, primarily driven by overall market performance, higher fee-based revenues benefiting from strong commercial momentum and favorable market impacts and disciplined management of spend.
VOYA is constantly taking strategic steps to ramp up growth in its Investment Management segment. Voya Financial and Allianz Global Investors inked a long-term strategic partnership that added scale and diversification to Voya Investment Management.
The Employee Benefits segment of the insurer is likely to benefit from unfavorable Stop Loss claim development in the prior period, which did not repeat, and a smaller block of business in the current period, lower premium-driven expenses and disciplined management of spend, and higher alternative investment income and active portfolio management.
The company’s capital levels remain strong. For the third quarter of 2025, the company generated more than $0.2 billion of excess capital, which was approximately 90% of after-tax adjusted operating earnings. The third quarter of 2025 marked another quarter of consistent cash flow generation, where VOYA generated more than $200 million of excess capital. VOYA remains well-positioned to exceed the $700 million goal. VOYA ended the third quarter with a healthy balance sheet and approximately $350 million of excess capital. As of Sept. 30, 2025, the estimated combined RBC ratio was 407%.
VOYA’s Wealth Distribution
Operational excellence has been helping the company deploy capital to enhance shareholders’ value. The balance sheet is well-positioned and was strengthened by the approximately $200 million of excess capital it generated in the quarter. VOYA expects to return between $100 million and $150 million in quarterly dividends and share repurchases throughout 2026, subject to market conditions. As of Sept. 30, 2025, the company had approximately $0.35 billion of excess capital and remaining share repurchase authorization of $661 million.
Headwinds
However, the life insurer has been experiencing increased expenses due to higher policyholder benefits, interest credited to contract owner account balances, operating costs and interest expenses. If the company does not strive to generate revenue growth greater than the magnitude of the increase in expenses, the margin will continue to erode.
End Notes
Voya Financial is well-positioned for growth on improved investment income, higher average equity markets and positive net flows, favorable retention, as well as strategic partnerships. It should continue to benefit from financial flexibility and effective capital deployment.
Voya Financial should continue to benefit from impressive dividend history, solid growth projections, optimistic analyst sentiment, and attractive valuations. It is, therefore, wise to hold on to this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) stock. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
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VOYA Stock Trading at Discount to Industry at 0.98X: Time to Hold?
Key Takeaways
Voya Financial, Inc. (VOYA - Free Report) shares are trading at a discount compared to the Zacks Life Insurance industry. Its forward price-to-book value of 0.98X is lower than the industry average of 1.89X, the Finance sector’s 4.24X and the Zacks S&P 500 Composite’s 8.56X. The life insurer has a Value Score of A.
The insurer has a market capitalization of $6.71 billion. The average volume of shares traded in the last three months was 0.7 million.
The stock remains attractively valued compared with Primerica, Inc. (PRI - Free Report) , Manulife Financial Corp. (MFC - Free Report) and Sun Life Financial Inc. (SLF - Free Report) .
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Earnings of Voya Financial grew 12.2% in the last five years, better than the industry average of 7.8%. VOYA has a solid surprise history. It has a solid track record of beating earnings estimates in each of the last four quarters, the average being 42.92%.
Voya Financial shares have gained 1.2% in the year-to-date period compared with the industry’s growth of 4.5%. The Zacks S&P 500 index and the Finance sector have returned 15.5% and 19.2%, respectively, in the said time frame.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
VOYA’s Growth Projection Encourages
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Voya Financial’s 2025 earnings per share indicates a year-over-year increase of 46.5%. The consensus estimate for revenues is pegged at $1.34 billion, implying a year-over-year improvement of 24.6%.
The consensus estimate for 2026 earnings per share and revenues indicates an increase of 12.2% and 3.6%, respectively, from the corresponding 2025 estimates.
Optimistic Analyst Sentiment on VOYA
Each of the five analysts covering the stock has raised estimates for 2025, while two analysts have raised the same for 2026 over the past 60 days. Thus, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2025 and 2026 moved 3% and 0.09% north, respectively, in the last 60 days.
Factors Acting in Favor of VOYA
VOYA’s earnings are driven by its solid segmental performances across Retirement, Investment Management and Employee Benefits segments. These businesses reflect higher-growth, capital-light and higher-return units, boasting the company’s solid presence in the market.
The Retirement segment is steadily witnessing significant growth on the back of higher revenues reflecting onboarded OneAmerica assets, favorable market impacts, higher alternative investment income and active portfolio management, positive defined contribution flows, as well as disciplined management of spend. Given continued commercial momentum, margins remain above the long-term targets. This, in turn, should drive higher fee income, strong spread income and prudent management of spend.
The Investment Management segment should benefit from higher investment capital returns, primarily driven by overall market performance, higher fee-based revenues benefiting from strong commercial momentum and favorable market impacts and disciplined management of spend.
VOYA is constantly taking strategic steps to ramp up growth in its Investment Management segment. Voya Financial and Allianz Global Investors inked a long-term strategic partnership that added scale and diversification to Voya Investment Management.
The Employee Benefits segment of the insurer is likely to benefit from unfavorable Stop Loss claim development in the prior period, which did not repeat, and a smaller block of business in the current period, lower premium-driven expenses and disciplined management of spend, and higher alternative investment income and active portfolio management.
The company’s capital levels remain strong. For the third quarter of 2025, the company generated more than $0.2 billion of excess capital, which was approximately 90% of after-tax adjusted operating earnings. The third quarter of 2025 marked another quarter of consistent cash flow generation, where VOYA generated more than $200 million of excess capital. VOYA remains well-positioned to exceed the $700 million goal. VOYA ended the third quarter with a healthy balance sheet and approximately $350 million of excess capital. As of Sept. 30, 2025, the estimated combined RBC ratio was 407%.
VOYA’s Wealth Distribution
Operational excellence has been helping the company deploy capital to enhance shareholders’ value. The balance sheet is well-positioned and was strengthened by the approximately $200 million of excess capital it generated in the quarter. VOYA expects to return between $100 million and $150 million in quarterly dividends and share repurchases throughout 2026, subject to market conditions. As of Sept. 30, 2025, the company had approximately $0.35 billion of excess capital and remaining share repurchase authorization of $661 million.
Headwinds
However, the life insurer has been experiencing increased expenses due to higher policyholder benefits, interest credited to contract owner account balances, operating costs and interest expenses. If the company does not strive to generate revenue growth greater than the magnitude of the increase in expenses, the margin will continue to erode.
End Notes
Voya Financial is well-positioned for growth on improved investment income, higher average equity markets and positive net flows, favorable retention, as well as strategic partnerships. It should continue to benefit from financial flexibility and effective capital deployment.
Voya Financial should continue to benefit from impressive dividend history, solid growth projections, optimistic analyst sentiment, and attractive valuations. It is, therefore, wise to hold on to this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) stock. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.