The Travelers Companies (NYSE:TRV) delivered record fourth-quarter earnings that were well ahead of analysts’ expectations, sending its shares more than 6% higher in Friday pre-market trading.
The company, based in New York, attributed the strong performance to a higher underlying underwriting gain, lower catastrophe losses and higher net investment income.
For the three months to December 31, 2023, net written premiums increased by 13% to $9.99 billion, while total revenues were up by the same margin at $10.9 billion.
Net income per share rose to $6.99 from $3.44 a year earlier.
Core income per share also more than doubled to $7.01 from $3.40 in 4Q 2022 and above the $5.04 consensus forecast of analysts polled by Zacks Investment Research.
“Core income, earnings per share and return on equity were all record highs for the quarter, driven by both underwriting and investment results,” chairman and CEO Alan Schnitzer commented in a statement.
“Record underlying underwriting income resulted from net earned premiums of $10 billion, up more than 13% over the prior year quarter, and an underlying combined ratio which improved 5.5 points to a record 85.9%. Each of our business segments contributed to the improvement.
Ahead of the opening bell, Travellers’ shares were up 6.4% at $210.99.