Progressive Q2 Profit More Than Doubles

(RTTNews) - Auto insurance group Progressive Corp. (PGR) on Thursday reported a profit for the second quarter that more than doubled from last year, reflecting gains on securities and lower catastrophe losses. The company's profit for the month of June rose more than five-fold from the year-ago period.

The Mayfield Village, Ohio-based company's net income for the second quarter was $324.6 million or $0.54 per share, up from $118.6 million or $0.19 per share in the prior-year quarter. The latest quarter's results include pretax net realized gains on securities of $132.9 million, compared to pretax net realized losses on securities of $4.7 million a year ago.

On average, 20 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $0.41 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Net premiums written for the quarter grew 6 percent from the year-ago period to $4.39 billion, while net premiums earned rose 7 percent to $4.28 billion. Analysts had a consensus revenue estimate of $4.40 billion.

Total catastrophe losses for the second quarter were $83 million or 1.9 loss ratio points. This compares to catastrophe losses of $107 million or 2.7 loss ratio points in the same period last year.

Combined ratio or the amount of premiums paid as claims, was 93.3 percent for the quarter, down 4.3 percentage points from the same period last year.

For the month of June, Progressive posted net income of $68.4 million or $0.11 per share, up sharply from $13.5 million or $0.02 per share in the same period last year. Comprehensive loss for the month was $59.1 million or $0.10 per share.

For June, Progressive incurred catastrophe losses of about $18 million or 1.4 loss ratio points, including additional development on May storms. This compares with catastrophe losses of $37 million or 3.0 loss ratio points in the prior-year period.

Pretax net realized gains on securities for the month were $23.5 million, compared to pretax gains of $0.5 million in the year-ago period.

Total revenues for June were $1.41 billion. Net premiums written increased 7 percent from the prior-ago period to $1.32 billion and net premiums earned also grew 7 percent to $1.32 billion.

Combined ratio for June declined 4.9 percentage points from the year-ago period to 96.

For the month of June, the company's total personal lines policies in force increased 1 percent to 13.01 million. Of this, total personal auto policies grew 1 percent to 8.98 million, with a 1 percent decline in agency auto policies and 2 percent growth in Direct Auto policies. Total special lines policies for the month grew 1 percent from last year to 4.02 million.

Meanwhile, total commercial auto policies in the month edged up slightly from last year to 526,600.

In Thursday's regular trading session, PGR is currently trading at $25.37, down $0.65 or 2.50 percent on a volume of 637,516 shares.