American International Group Inc. AIG reported third-quarter 2015 operating earnings per share of 52 cents, which missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by about 50%. Earnings declined 56% year over year.
Results also suffered due to lower income on hedge fund investments, lower income on assets marked to fair value through earnings, including part of AIG’s holdings in People’s Insurance Company (Group) of China Limited (PICC Group), and PICC Property & Casualty Company Limited (PICC P&C) shares and assets in Corporate and Other. However, cost control that resulted in lower operating expenses, limited the downside.
Including one-time items, net loss incurred was 18 cents per share. The year-ago quarter saw net income of $1.52 per share.
Shares lost 2.97% in the after-market trading session to reflect the underperformance.
Behind the Headlines
Pretax operating income at Commercial Insurance dropped 34% year over year to $815 million due to a decrease in net investment income from Property Casualty and Institutional Markets attributable to a lower hedge fund performance and a decline in the fair value of PICC P&C holdings.
Pretax operating income at Consumer Insurance plummeted 48% year over year to $657 million. The decline stemmed from lower net investment income and unfavorable adjustment to DAC along with reserve items related to an annual review of actuarial assumptions.
Financial Position
The insurance subsidiaries of AIG paid $2.8 billion, consisting of $2.3 billion in dividends and loan repayments, and $503 million in tax sharing payments to the parent in the quarter, thereby fortifying its financial flexibility.
AIG sold its remaining approximately 10.7 million ordinary shares of AerCap for $500 million.
At quarter end, AIG’s liquidity decreased 19% sequentially to $11.2 billion, to account for the ongoing liability and capital management initiatives.
In the quarter, AIG issued $3.21 billion of notes. The company also bought back $3.4 billion debt.
At quarter end, AIG’s reported book value per share rose 6.5% year over year to $61.91.
Operating return on equity deteriorated to 3.5% from 8.5% in the year-ago quarter.
Share Buyback and Dividend Update
AIG repurchased 61 million shares for $3.7 billion in the third quarter. The company also bought back $602 million worth shares through Oct 31.
The board of directors announced a quarterly dividend of 28 cents per share on Nov 2.
Restructuring Initiatives
AIG is pursuing restructuring initiatives to focus on organizational simplification, operational efficiency and business rationalization. These actions are estimated to generate pretax annualized savings between $0.4 billion and $0.5 billion when fully implemented. However, AIG will have to incur pre-tax restructuring and other costs of $0.5 billion, including $0.3 billion of employee severance and one-time termination benefits, concentrated initially among management’s senior levels. About half of the remaining $0.2 billion will be related to costs incurred on modernization of information technology platforms, with the remaining estimated for the consolidation of legal entities and the exiting lower return lines of the business.
Zacks Rank
Currently, AIG carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Performance of Other Multi-Line Insurers
The bottom line at Assurant, Inc. AIZ and CNO Financial Group, Inc. CNO outperformed their respective Zacks Consensus Estimate while The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. HIG missed the same in the third quarter.
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