Thursday, October 28, 2010

Allstate Misses on Earnings, Revenues, Stock Closes Generally Mournful and Reflective (ALL)

Back on September 1 we decided Allstate was worth a trade at $27.70:
A Contrarian Hurricane Earl Trade: Allstate Insurance (ALL)
On September 10 with the stock up 7.8% at  $29.87 we posted:
Update on the Allstate Trade: Caught an Upgrade from Citi (ALL)
And on September 13 with the stock at $30.12 it was:
Chicken Trader Bailing on Allstate Trade (ALL)
So I felt pretty silly when the darn thing went on to trade as high as $33.29 on October 14.
Today it closed down 6.31% at $30.43 and might be worth another look after the analysts digest what happened in the third quarter. Here's Zacks:

Allstate Misses on Low Top Line
Allstate Corporation’s (ALL - Analyst Report) third quarter operating earnings of 83 cents per share came in way behind the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 97 cents and 99 cents recorded in the year-ago quarter.
Results for the quarter deteriorated primarily due to lower-than-expected premiums coupled with higher expenses in the Property-Liability insurance segment, along with relatively higher tax expenses. However, lower catastrophic losses, prudent capital management and strong liquidity were quite impressive during the reported quarter. This is reflected from growth in book value per share.

Allstate’s net income for the reported quarter came in at $367 million or 68 cents per share, compared with $221 million or 41 cents in the prior-year quarter, reflecting growth of about 66%. Operating income, which excludes realized net capital gains and losses from the sale of investments as well as accruals on unhedged derivative instruments, for the reported quarter was $452 million, down 16.0% from $538 million in the year-ago quarter.

Allstate reported total net revenue growth of 4.3% year over year to $7.90 billion and also came in about 14% higher than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $6.95 billion.

Quarter in Detail
Property-Liability net written premiums were $6.76 billion, down 0.6% from prior-year quarter. This segment’s combined ratio deteriorated by 1.2 points year over year to 95.9%....MORE
Bloomberg's story was headlined:
Allstate Plunges After Earnings Miss Analysts' Estimates on Sales Decline
Reuters' was:
Allstate shares at six-week low on earnings miss
Which would take us back to, oh, September 14 when it closed at $30.27.