Cincinnati Financial Results Surpass Estimates

(RTTNews) - Cincinnati Financial Corp (CINF), a provider of property and casualty insurance, on Tuesday reported second-quarter net earnings of $176 million or $1.06 per share compared with $84 million or $0.51 per share last year.

The company said the increase in profit reflects the after-tax effect of two primary items: $59 million improvement in contribution from property casualty underwriting, and a $29 million increase from net realized investment gains.

Excluding items, operating earnings for the quarter were $0.83 per share compared with $0.46 per share a year ago.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters estimated earnings of $0.39 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Total revenues for the quarter were up 8% at $1.32 billion compared with $1.21 billion in the prior year. Analysts estimated revenues of $1.25 billion for the quarter.

Earned premiums were up 5% at $1.11 billion for the quarter.

Total benefits and expenses for the quarter decreased to $1.07 billion from $1.11 billion last year.

The property-casualty combined ratio for the quarter improved to 92.4% from 100.9% last year.

As at June 30, 2015, the company had a book value of $39.60 per share, up 2% from last year.