Travelers' Stock Leaps Further Into Record Territory As Earnings Triple, Profitability Improves -- MarketWatch

MarketWatch · 10/17 11:21

Shares of Travelers Cos. Inc. (TRV) shot up 7.4% into record territory in premarket trading Thursday, after the insurer reported a big third-quarter earnings beat and a profitability measure that saw sharp improvement. Net income more than tripled, to $1.26 billion, or $5.42 a share, from $404 million, or $1.74 a share in the same period a year ago. Excluding nonrecurring items, such as an investment gain, core earnings per share jumped to $5.24 from $1.95, and was well above the FactSet consensus of $3.66. The combined ratio, a measure of profitability for insurers - lower is better - improved to 93.2% from 101.0%, much better than the FactSet consensus of 96.9%. Total revenue grew 11.9% to $11.9 billion, above the FactSet consensus of $11.69 billion, as net written premiums rose 7.9% to $11.32 billion but came up shy of expectations of $11.38 billion. Catastrophe losses increased 10.5% to $939 million, primarily resulting from Hurricane Helene. The stock has rallied 27.5% year to date through Wednesday, while the SPDR S&P Insurance ETF (KIE) has run up 28.7% and the S&P 500 index has advanced 22.5%.

-Tomi Kilgore

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October 17, 2024 07:21 ET (11:21 GMT)