Allstate profit beats estimates as premiums rise
(Adds CEO comments)
By Avik Das
Oct 29 (Reuters) - Allstate Corp, the largest publicly traded home and auto insurer in the United States, reported a higher-than-expected quarterly profit as it earned more premiums.
The insurer has raised insurance premiums aggressively in the last few years without any significant loss to its share of the highly competitive home and auto insurance markets.
Chief Executive Tom Wilson, however, said on Wednesday his company was seeing "less volatility" in pricing.
"Price increases are getting much smaller as most of the impact of severe weather has already been reflected in our pricing and profitability," Wilson told Reuters.
Property and casualty insurers' ability to raise rates have slowed, mainly due to a lack of major catastrophe losses in recent times.
Allstate's net income available to common shareholders rose to $750 million, or $1.74 per share, in the third quarter ended Sept. 30, from $310 million, or 66 cents per share, a year earlier.
The year-earlier quarter included an after-tax loss of about $475 million on the sale of Lincoln Benefit Life Co, one of its life insurance businesses, for $600 million to Resolution Life Holdings.
For the latest third quarter, property-liability premiums earned rose 4.8 percent to $7.31 billion. Claims rose about 11 percent to $4.91 billion.
On an operating basis, Allstate reported earnings of $1.39 per share, topping the average analyst estimate of $1.33 per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Consolidated revenue rose about 5.6 percent to $8.94 billion. Catastrophe losses tripled to $517 million.
Rivals Travelers Cos Inc and Chubb Corp reported better-than-expected results last week, partly helped by lower claims.
Allstate's shares closed at $62.98 on the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday.
(Reporting by Avik Das in Bangalore; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty and Maju Samuel)
