Kingstone (NASDAQ: KINS) reported Q4 EPS of $0.08, $0.23 worse than the analyst estimate of $0.31. Revenue for the quarter came in at $32 million versus the consensus estimate of $32.44 million.

• Direct written premiums1 increased 23.0%; Personal lines grew by 23.6%
• Net premiums earned increased 28.5% to $28.9 million
• Net loss of $0.9 million or $0.08 per diluted share including an unrealized decline in value of equity securities of $2.1 million or $.16 per diluted share, net of tax
• Net operating income1 decreased 55.1% to $0.9 million or $0.08 per diluted share
• Net combined ratio of 96.4% compared to 89.9%
• Return on average common equity (annualized) of -3.9%
• Operating return on average common equity (annualized)1 of 3.9% down from 8.2%

Dale Thatcher, Kingstone’s Chief Executive Officer, commented, “While our growth for the quarter and year was strong, it was a challenging year from a weather perspective. We continued to add significant new business volume in our expansion markets while at the same time growing our profitable core New York business at a healthy 15%, yielding overall growth in excess of 20%. We anticipate launching homeowners products in Connecticut and Maine during 2019, which will add to our already expanding market share in the Northeast. Personal lines direct written premium again grew at 25% year over year. The combined ratio increased in the fourth quarter 2018 to 96.4% compared to 89.9% in the fourth quarter 2017, impacted by 3.5 points of prior year loss development and higher claim severity on personal lines business. It is also important to note that for the full year we recorded a 6.0 point impact from catastrophes compared to no impact from catastrophic events during 2017.

Our net underwriting expense ratio remained flat for the quarter while our net written premiums grew 32.6% compared to the fourth quarter 2017. As we look at the cost of core operations exclusive of the new states, we continue to work hard on maintaining expense efficiencies, and we see the ratio of other underwriting expenses to direct written premium1 holding steady at 14.3%. We are working hard to build an exemplary Northeast Regional carrier on our platform of historic profitability.

For 2019 we expect a combined ratio excluding catastrophes between 82% and 84%, and catastrophe losses of approximately 4 points."

For earnings history and earnings-related data on Kingstone (KINS) click here.