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What's in the Cards for Loews (L) This Earnings Season?

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Loews Corporation (L - Free Report) is slated to report first-quarter 2019 results on Apr 29, before market open. The company delivered positive earnings surprise in two of the last four quarters.

Let’s see how things are shaping up for this announcement.

Better performances at CNA Financial (CNA - Free Report) and Loews Hotels are likely to aid Loews’ first-quarter performance.

Loews Hotel is expected to perform well given stable performance across its properties.

CNA Financial’s first-quarter results are likely to benefit from solid performances across its segments - Commercial and Specialty. Premiums are likely to be fueled by increase in new business, renewal premium change and solid retention. This, in turn, may drive Loews' performance as it has a stake in CNA Financial.

Boardwalk Pipeline, Loews’ subsidiary, is expected to benefit from growth-enhancing projects and higher system utilization. However, higher expenses could limit margin expansion.

Diamond Offshore (DO - Free Report) , in which Loews has a stake, results are likely to be hurt by lower day rate, drop in contract drilling revenues and a decline in rigs working. This, in turn, may impact Loews' results.

Sustained share buybacks are likely to boost the bottom line.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for first-quarter earnings is pegged at 96 cents, implying a 7.9% increase from the year-ago reported figure.

What Our Quantitative Model States

Our proven model does not conclusively show that Loews is likely to beat on earnings this to-be-reported period. This is because a stock needs to have both a positive Earnings ESP and a favorable Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) for this to happen. But that is not the case here as you will see below. We caution against Zacks Rank #4 (Sell) or 5 (Strong Sell) going into an earnings announcement, especially when the company is seeing negative estimate revisions.

Earnings ESP: Loews has an Earnings ESP of 0.00%. This is because both the Zacks Consensus Estimate and the Most Accurate Estimate are pegged at 96 cents. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.

Loews Corporation Price and EPS Surprise

Zacks Rank: Loews carries a Zacks Rank #4.

A Stock to Consider

A stock from the multiline insurance industry with the perfect mix of elements to outpace estimates this time around is as follows:

The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. (HIG - Free Report) is set to report first-quarter earnings on May 1. The company has an Earnings ESP of +0.27% and a Zacks Rank #3. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

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