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CNO Financial's (CNO) Q1 Earnings Beat Estimates, Surge Y/Y

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CNO Financial Group, Inc.’s (CNO - Free Report) first-quarter 2020 adjusted earnings per share of 58 cents beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 45%. The bottom line also improved 41.5% year over year on the back of growth in health and life production along with stable margins and expense management.

However, the company’s total revenues declined 29.9% year over year to $717 million due to realized losses and negative policyholder and other special-purpose portfolios. The top line also missed the consensus mark by 24.8%.

CNO Financial Group, Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

CNO Financial Group, Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

CNO Financial Group, Inc. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | CNO Financial Group, Inc. Quote

Quarterly Operational Update

Annuity collected premiums declined 7% year over year to $292.2 million due to pricing discipline.

New annualized premiums for life and health products amounted to $85.1 million, up 7% from the year-ago period.

Total insurance policy income inched up 2% year over year to $628.7 million.

Operating return on equity for the first quarter was 11.1%, expanding 60 bps year over year.

Total benefits and expenses decreased 17.7% year over year to $788.2 million, mainly on the back of lower insurance policy benefits, amortization and other operating costs.

Financial Update

Unrestricted cash and cash equivalents held by CNO Financial were $482 million as of Mar 31, 2020, down 16.9% from the level at 2019 end.

As of Mar 31, 2020, total assets were $32.7 billion, down 2.7% from the level at 2019 end.

Debt-to-capital was 20.8% as of Mar 31, 2020 compared with 17.5% at 2019 end.

Securities Repurchase and Divided Update

In the first quarter, the company returned $99.2 million in the form of share buybacks and dividend.

Zacks Rank and Performance of Other Insurers

CNO Financial carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Among other players from the insurance industry, which already reported first-quarter earnings, the bottom-line results of Assurant, Inc. (AIZ - Free Report) and The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. (HIG - Free Report) beat the respective Zacks Consensus Estimate while that of American International Group, Inc. (AIG - Free Report) missed the mark. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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