Barclays on U.S. Insurance/Life: 1Q12 Preview: Life Insurers 1Q Should Be Strong; Attractive Valuations
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Rating Summary:
9 Buy, 7 Hold, 0 Sell
Rating Trend:
Up
Today's Overall Ratings:
Up: 11 | Down: 18 | New: 13
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Barclays on U.S. Insurance/Life: 1Q12 Preview: Life Insurers 1Q12 EPS Should Be Strong; Valuations Are Attractive
Analyst, Jay Gelb, said, "Life insurers' 1Q12 earnings should be strong reflecting the benefit of rising equity markets and DAC unlocking. We are raising our EPS estimates for the life insurers with the most sensitivity to higher equity markets (MetLife (NYSE: MET), Prudential (NYSE: PRU), Ameriprise (NYSE: AMP), Principal Financial (NYSE: PFG) and Lincoln (NYSE: LNC)). Despite the recent increase in life insurer stocks, the life insurer's valuations are still attractive at a P/E of 8.7x our 2012 outlook and 1.1x trailing book value ex-AOCI and adjusted for the DAC accounting change."
Gelb expects Prudential (PRU), Torchmark (NYSE: TMK), and Protective Life (NYSE: PL) to produce the strongest year-over-year earnings growth in Q1. MetLife (NYSE: MET), Prudential and Aflac (NYSE: AFL) remain Top Picks.
Barclays raises PT on Torchmark (NYSE: TMK) from $55 to $62, Unum (NYSE: UNM) from $25 to $28, Hanover (NYSE: THG) from $36 to $41, Protective Life (NYSE: PL) from $27 to $35, Prudential (NYSE: PRU) from $60 to $80, MetLife (NYSE: MET) from $40 to $48, Lincoln National (NYSE: LNC) from $22 to $30, Ameriprise Financial (NYSE: AMP) from $52 to $72 and Aflac (NYSE: AFL) from $50 to $58.
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Analyst, Jay Gelb, said, "Life insurers' 1Q12 earnings should be strong reflecting the benefit of rising equity markets and DAC unlocking. We are raising our EPS estimates for the life insurers with the most sensitivity to higher equity markets (MetLife (NYSE: MET), Prudential (NYSE: PRU), Ameriprise (NYSE: AMP), Principal Financial (NYSE: PFG) and Lincoln (NYSE: LNC)). Despite the recent increase in life insurer stocks, the life insurer's valuations are still attractive at a P/E of 8.7x our 2012 outlook and 1.1x trailing book value ex-AOCI and adjusted for the DAC accounting change."
Gelb expects Prudential (PRU), Torchmark (NYSE: TMK), and Protective Life (NYSE: PL) to produce the strongest year-over-year earnings growth in Q1. MetLife (NYSE: MET), Prudential and Aflac (NYSE: AFL) remain Top Picks.
Barclays raises PT on Torchmark (NYSE: TMK) from $55 to $62, Unum (NYSE: UNM) from $25 to $28, Hanover (NYSE: THG) from $36 to $41, Protective Life (NYSE: PL) from $27 to $35, Prudential (NYSE: PRU) from $60 to $80, MetLife (NYSE: MET) from $40 to $48, Lincoln National (NYSE: LNC) from $22 to $30, Ameriprise Financial (NYSE: AMP) from $52 to $72 and Aflac (NYSE: AFL) from $50 to $58.
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