3 key takeaways from CNA Financial’s Q1 earnings report

CNA Financial Corp. (NYSE: CNA) reported better-than-expected net income for the fiscal first quarter on Monday as net investment income showed resilience in recent months.

1. Financial performance

CNA Financial said that its net income in the first quarter printed at £224.69 million that translates to 82 pence per share. In the comparable quarter of last year, it had recorded £43.93 million of loss, or 16.56 pence per share.

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Core earnings, the casualty insurance company added, came in at £189.41 million in Q1 that represents 69.14 pence per share. According to FactSet, experts had forecast a lower 63.38 pence of core per-share earnings instead. In the prior quarter (Q4), the financial corporation had registered £281 million of net income.

2. Core income from individual segments

CNA Financial noted £189.41 million of core income in the recent quarter from property and casualty operations – an increase from £87.14 million last year. Core income from its speciality segment jumped from £69.14 million to £122.43 million.

Other notable figures in the earnings report on Monday include £49.69 million of core income from the commercial segment, £17.28 million from the international segment, and £25.93 million from life and group segment. Core loss attributed to the corporate and other segment, on the other hand, broadened in Q1 to £25.93 million.

3. Dividend and guidance for the full year

CNA Financial’s net investment income in the recent quarter climbed to £362.69 million. The board declared 27.37 pence per share of a quarterly cash dividend on Monday. Commenting on the financial update, CEO Dino Robusto said:

“We remain bullish about our growth opportunities for the remainder of the year as we expect favourable market conditions to persist.”

CNA Financial’s parent, Loews Corp, also published its quarterly earnings report on Monday.

Impact on the share price

CAN Financial shares that you can learn to buy online here are currently exchanging hands at £33.80. In comparison, it had started the year 2021 at a per-share price of £27.38 per share after recovering from a low of £18.72 per share in May 2020 when the impact of the ongoing COVID-19 crisis was at its peak.  

CNA Financial performed fairly downbeat in the stock market last year with an annual decline of more than 10%. At the time of writing, the Chicago-based company has a market cap of £9.18 billion and a price to earnings ratio of 18.53.