Aflac (NYSE: AFL) reported Q4 EPS of $1.07, $0.02 better than the analyst estimate of $1.05. Revenue for the quarter came in at $5.9 billion versus the consensus estimate of $5.45 billion.

OUTLOOK

Commenting on the company's results, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Daniel P. Amos stated: "As we face waves of COVID-19 infections and variants emerge across the globe, we are reminded to remain vigilant as the safety and health of everyone with whom we do business is our greatest priority. While vaccines are being rolled out, many people are still facing the most challenging times of their lives, and our thoughts and prayers are with everyone affected.

"2020 was a challenging year navigating pandemic conditions including decisive action early on to protect our workforce, secure our financial strength and operations and reinforce our distribution franchise with digital and virtual investments to position our company for future growth. While sales were impacted in Japan and the U.S., we absorbed accelerated investment in our platform while continuing strong earnings performance. Consistent with our culture as a socially responsible company, we advanced our ESG disclosures with a dedicated report outlining our ESG policies as well as adopting a formal reporting framework, receiving select upgrades from ESG ratings services.

"Pandemic conditions continue to impact our sales results both in the United States and Japan, as well as earned premium and revenues. We expect these pandemic conditions to remain with us through the first half of 2021. We have seen marginal sales improvements on a sequential basis in the last two quarters, and we would look for this to continue if conditions improve to allow more face-to-face interactions. At the same time, we continue to invest in virtual and digital sales methods and promote new products, as we face uncertain economic conditions and claims activity in both countries. For example, we launched a new medical product in Japan, closed on the acquisition of Zurich North America's group benefits business and announced the national launch of Aflac Dental & Vision. While we will continue to monitor the rollout of vaccines, we remain encouraged about the second half of the year, expecting to slowly return to normal and realize the benefits of our 2020 investments.

"As always, we are committed to prudent liquidity and capital management. This includes maintaining strong capital ratios on behalf of our policyholders in both the U.S. and Japan. It goes without saying that we treasure our record of dividend growth. Coming off our 38th consecutive year of dividend increases, I am pleased with the board's decision to increase the quarterly dividend by 17.9% in the first quarter, as we announced in November. Our dividend track record is supported by the strength of our capital and cash flows. At the same time, we remain in the market repurchasing shares with a tactical approach and focused on integrating the growth investments we have made in our platform. By doing so, we look to emerge from this period in a continued position of strength and leadership."

*See Non-U.S. GAAP Financial Measures section for an explanation of foreign exchange and its impact on the financial statements and definitions of the non-U.S. GAAP financial measures used in this earnings release, as well as a reconciliation of such non-U.S. GAAP financial measures to the most comparable U.S. GAAP financial measures.

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