Zacks Investment Research upgraded shares of Genworth Financial Inc. (GNW) from UNDERPERFORM to NEUTRAL on August 26, 2013, with a target price of $13.00.
We are upgrading Genworth to Neutral from Underperform on the back of its solid second quarter results. Global Mortgage Insurance put up a robust performance, long-term care insurance witnessed progress on rate actions and the company garnered benefits from the expense reduction initiatives. However, results missed the Zacks Consensus estimate. The top line declined primarily due to lower net investment income, lower premiums, lower insurance and investment product fees, and other. To better focus on capital generation, increasing the financial strength and flexibility of the company as well as simply the business model, Genworth decided to divest the wealth management business. With $500 million in 2014 debt maturities intended for redemption later this year, it aims a leverage of 25% for 2013 with a medium-term goal of 20% to 22%. However, the IPO of the Australian Mortgage insurance is further postponed to the fourth quarter of 2013 or later.
Get all Zacks Research Reports and be alerted to fast-breaking buy and sell opportunities every trading day.
To get a free copy of the research report on Genworth Financial Inc. (GNW),
click here.
For more information about research offerings from Zacks Investment Research, visit
Zacks.com .
Be the first to comment