On Sep 23, Zacks Investment Research upgraded ACE Limited (ACE) to a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
Why the Upgrade?
ACE Limited has witnessed rising earnings estimates on the back positive developments at the company as well as strong second-quarter results. Moreover, this property and casualty insurer delivered positive earnings surprises in the last four quarters, with an average beat of 11.5%.
To help employers with a cost effective way to supplement their underlying major medical plans, ACE introduced GAP Supplement, a new employee-benefit solution. This product is an addition to ACE Accident & Health’s comprehensive line of Supplemental Health and Voluntary Benefits products portfolio.
ACE Limited also unveiled ACE Risk Management Global Casualty that consolidates U.S. and global casualty offerings.
To serve the media companies domiciled outside the USA and Canada, ACE also launched an array of professional indemnity (PI) wordings to cater to the risk in this industry.
With respect to last quarter, solid underwriting performances coupled with improved investment results helped ACE Limited to outperform the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 8% and year-ago earnings by 5.7%.
The company remains focused on is efforts to return more value to its shareholders. It also expects to repurchase about $1.5 billion of shares in 2014, of which it has already bought back $700 million in the first seven months. In addition, its dividend yield is better than the industry average.
All the positives prompted a rise in the Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2014 over the last 60 days. It increased by a penny to $9.13. The expected long-term growth rate for the stock is 10%.
Other Stocks to Consider
Investors interested in property and casualty insurers may also consider AmTrust Financial Services, Inc. (AFSI), Federated National Holding Company (FNHC) and Mercury General Corporation (MCY). All these sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).
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