Assurant Profit In Line With Estimates, Revenue Beats

(RTTNews) - Assurant Inc (AIZ), a provider of specialized insurance products, on Tuesday reported first-quarter net earnings of $50 million or $0.71 per share compared with $137.2 million or $1.86 per share last year.

Excluding items, operating earnings for the quarter were $0.63 per share compared with $1.68 per share a year ago.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters estimated earnings of $0.63 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

The company said results were mainly hurt by higher-than-expected losses on Affordable Care Act policies at Assurant Health and the ongoing normalization of lender-placed insurance at Assurant Specialty Property.

Total revenues for the quarter climbed to $2.6 billion from $2.45 billion last year. Analysts estimated revenues of $2.56 billion.

Net earned premiums, fees and other income for the quarter increased to $2.4 billion from $2.3 billion last year, primarily reflecting growth at Assurant Health.

Net investment income slid to $152.3 million from $168.1 million, due to less income from real estate joint venture partnerships.

The company said it continues to explore strategic alternatives for Assurant Health and Assurant Employee Benefits.