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Assurant Sells Investment in Ike, Focuses on Lifestyle

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Assurant, Inc. (AIZ - Free Report) has closed of the sale of its investment in Iké Asistencia (Iké) and certain of its affiliates.

Iké Asistencia, founded in 1988, is a Mexico based independently owned assistance business. Apart from Mexico, it has substantial market share in five other countries in Latin America. It primarily offers roadside assistance, home assistance, travel, mobile and other protection products and its products are available through leading banks, retailers, automobile manufacturers and telecommunications companies in Latin America. It markets to clients throughout Mexico.

Assurant decided to sell its interest in Iké in a bid to focus on its core lifestyle offerings in Latin America to aid consumers in safeguarding their mobile devices, cars, electronics and appliances. The decision came after the Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) global provider of risk management solutions in the housing and lifestyle markets successfully integrated The Warranty Group.

We note that Assurant had made an equity investment of $115 million in Iké in 2014. The investment was made to take advantage of Iké Asistencia’s operational infrastructure, boost Assurant Solutions services portfolio and strengthen the footprint of Assurant in Latin America. The investment was also aimed at driving growth of both of the companies, backed by Assurant’s financial strength and specialty protection expertise.

Shares of Assurant have outperformed the industry year to date. The stock has gained 3.7% against the industry’s decline of 24.9%. We expect higher revenues, strategic initiatives and a solid capital position to drive the shares higher in the near term.

Stocks to Consider

Some better-ranked stocks from the same space are EverQuote Inc (EVER - Free Report) , James River Group Holdings Ltd (JRVR - Free Report) and Horace Mann Educators Corporation (HMN - Free Report) , each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

EverQuote surpassed estimates in each of the last four quarters, with the average positive surprise being 86.67%.

James River Group surpassed estimates in three of the last four quarters, with the average positive surprise being 7.31%.

Horace Mann surpassed estimates in two of the last four quarters, with the average positive surprise being 11.03%.

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