First American Financial (NYSE: FAF) reported Q4 EPS of $1.27, $0.10 better than the analyst estimate of $1.17. Revenue for the quarter came in at $1.4 billion versus the consensus estimate of $1.46 billion.

“The company had a strong finish to a record year in 2018, achieving annual earnings per share of $4.19 and a return on equity of 13.1 percent,” said Dennis J. Gilmore, chief executive officer at First American Financial Corporation. “For the year, total revenue was relatively flat, with growth in our commercial business and rising investment income largely offsetting the decline in refinance transactions. We continued to manage the company at a high level of efficiency, enabling our title segment to deliver a record pretax margin of 12.4 percent, or 13.2 percent excluding net realized losses.

“Looking forward to 2019, we expect strong performance in our commercial business and growth in investment income, however, we anticipate continued pressure in our residential business. We have adjusted our cost structure accordingly and, as a result, we expect to meet our long-term financial objectives for the year.

“As part of our growth strategy, during the year we will continue to focus on developing innovative solutions that improve the customer experience and increase our efficiency. These include the expansion of our digital closing services, further automation of our title production process, and utilization of artificial intelligence to expand and leverage our extensive data assets.”

For earnings history and earnings-related data on First American Financial (FAF) click here.