Assurant, Inc. AIZ reported fourth-quarter 2024 net operating income of $4.79 per share, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 10.6%. The bottom line increased 5% year over year.

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The results reflected continued outperformance in Global Housing as well as underlying Connected Living growth within Global Lifestyle.

Total revenues increased 4.4% year over year to $3.1 billion due to higher net earned premiums and fees and other income. The top line beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 2.6%.

Adjusted EBITDA, excluding reportable catastrophes, increased 13% to $431.5 million.

Total benefits, loss and expenses increased 3.5% to $2.8 billion, mainly on account of an increase in policyholder benefits, underwriting, selling, general and administrative expenses. The figure was higher than our estimate of $2.6 billion.

Segmental Performance

Net earned premiums, fees and other income at Global Housing increased 19% to $647.4 million. The increase was mainly driven by Homeowners’ top-line growth, including growth in policies in force and higher average premiums within lender-placed, as well as improvements across various specialty Homeowners products. The figure beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $607 million and was higher than our estimate of $521.1 million.

Adjusted EBITDA was $225.4 million, up 21% year over year. Excluding reportable catastrophes, Adjusted EBITDA increased 32%, primarily from continued top-line growth within Homeowners, including higher policies in-force from voluntary insurance market pressure, and lower non-catastrophe loss experience. Results included $38.3 million of favorable prior period reserve development. The figure was higher than our estimate of $156.6 million.

Net earned premiums, fees and other income at Global Lifestyle increased 2% to $2.3 billion, primarily driven by Connected Living growth in mobile and Global Financial Services. The figure beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.2 billion and was higher than our estimate of $1.8 billion.

Adjusted EBITDA of $191.7 million decreased 6% year over year. The decline was primarily due to lower results within Global Automotive owing to lower real estate joint-venture partnership income compared to the prior year. Underlying Global Automotive results were largely stable as higher investment income was partially offset by elevated losses. The figure was lower than our estimate of $226.2 million.

Adjusted EBITDA loss at Corporate & Other was $35.7 million, wider than the year-ago quarter’s adjusted EBITDA loss of $29.9 million. The wider loss was primarily due to higher third-party and employee-related expenses.

Full-Year Highlights

Adjusted earnings increased 7% to $16.64 per share in 2024. The metric beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 2.7%.

Net earned premiums, fees and other income from the Global Lifestyle and Global Housing segments totaled $11.42 billion, up 7%, on both a reported and constant currency basis, driven by an increase in Global Lifestyle from Connected Living and growth in Global Housing from Homeowners.

Adjusted EBITDA, excluding reportable catastrophes, increased 15% to $1.5 billion.

Financial Position

Liquidity was $673 million as of Dec. 31, 2024, which was $448 million higher than the company’s current targeted minimum level of $225 million. Total assets increased 4.1% to $35 billion as of Dec. 31, 2024 from 2023 end.

Debt of $2 billion increased 0.1%.

Total shareholders’ equity came in at $5.1 billion, up 6.2% year over year.

Share Repurchase and Dividend Update

For 2024, share repurchases and dividends totaled $456 million. Assurant repurchased 1.5 million shares for $300 million and paid $156 million in dividends. From Jan. 1 through Feb. 7, 2025, AIZ repurchased shares for $24 million. It now has $351 million remaining under the current repurchase authorization.

2025 Guidance

Assurant expects adjusted EBITDA, excluding reportable catastrophes, to increase modestly, or high-single digits excluding $107 million of favorable prior-year development in 2024.

Global Lifestyle Adjusted EBITDA is projected to increase from growth in Connected Living and Global Automotive. 

Global Housing Adjusted EBITDA, excluding reportable catastrophes, is expected to decrease modestly, with strong underlying growth when excluding $107 million of favorable prior-year development in 2024. Reportable catastrophes from the California Wildfires are expected to approach or slightly exceed the per-event catastrophe reinsurance program retention of $150 million.

Corporate and Other Adjusted EBITDA loss is expected to approximate $115 million, reflecting an improvement from 2024.

Assurant expects adjusted earnings, excluding reportable catastrophes, per diluted share growth rate to increase modestly, or high-single-digits when excluding $107 million of prior-year development from 2024.

AIZ expects an effective tax rate of approximately 20% to 22%, depreciation expense of approximately $165 million, interest expense of approximately $107 million and amortization of purchased intangible assets of approximately $65 million.

Zacks Rank

Assurant currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Performance of Other Multi-Line Insurers

The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. HIG reported fourth-quarter 2024 adjusted operating earnings of $2.94 per share, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 10.1%. However, the bottom line decreased 3.9% year over year. HIG's operating revenues amounted to $4.8 billion, which improved 11.1% year over year in the quarter under review. The top line beat the consensus mark by a whisker. Earned premiums of Hartford Financial rose 6.9% year over year to $5.8 billion in the fourth quarter but missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 0.7%.

Pre-tax net investment income of $714 million grew 9.3% year over year and beat the consensus mark by 5.5%. Net investment income witnessed year-over-year growth in both the Property and Casualty and Group Benefits segments.

Everest Group, Ltd. EG reported fourth-quarter 2024 operating loss of $18.39 per share, wider than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of $16.65. EG had reported an operating income of $25.18 per share in the year-ago quarter. Everest Group’s total operating revenues of nearly $4.64 billion increased 26.7% year over year on higher premiums earned and net investment income. The top line beat the consensus mark by 4.4%.

Net investment income was $473 million, which increased 15.1% year over year. Our estimate was $419.5 million. The Zacks Consensus Estimate was pegged at $496 million. Total claims and expenses surged 59% to $5.4 billion.

Radian Group Inc. RDN reported fourth-quarter 2024 adjusted operating income of $1.09 per share, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 14.7%. The bottom line increased 13.5% year over year. Operating revenues decreased 4% year over year to $316 million due to lower services revenues. Net premiums earned were $238.5 million, which increased 2.5% year over year.

MI New Insurance Written increased 24% year over year to $13.2 billion. Primary mortgage insurance in force increased 2% year over year to an all-time high of $275.1 billion as of Dec. 31, 2024. Persistency — the percentage of mortgage insurance in force that remains in the company’s books after a 12-month period — was 84% as of Dec. 31, 2024, which remained unchanged year over year.

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