Progressive Q3 Profit Declines Despite Higher Revenues

(RTTNews) - Auto insurance group Progressive Corp. (PGR) Progressive Corp. (PGR) said Friday that its profit for the third quarter declined 6 percent from last year as double-digit growth in revenues was more than offset by losses on securities, including impairment losses.

Revenues for the quarter beat analysts' expectations. The company's bottom-line for the month of September declined 21 percent from last year despite an increase in premiums.

Combined ratio for the third quarter edged up 0.3 percentage points from the year-ago quarter to 92.8 percent.

The Mayfield Village, Ohio-based company's third-quarter net income was $278.3 million or $0.47 per share, down from $296.1 million or $0.50 per share in the prior-year quarter.

The latest quarter's results include pretax net realized losses on securities, including net impairment losses, of $15.8 million. This compared to net realized gains of $38.2 million in the year-ago period.

On average, 24 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $0.48 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Net premiums written for the quarter grew 14 percent from the year-ago period to $5.41 billion. Analysts had a consensus revenue estimate of $5.27 billion for the quarter.

Net premiums earned in the quarter rose 12 percent to $5.07 billion.

For the month of September, Progressive posted net income of $72.3 million or $0.12 per share, down 21 percent from $92.0 million or $0.16 per share in the same period last year.

Pretax net realized losses on securities for the month were $24.3 million. This compares to gains of $20.4 million in the prior-year period.

Total revenues for September were $1.62 billion. Net premiums written increased 21 percent from the same period last year to $1.72 billion and net premiums earned grew 12 percent to $1.58 billion.

Combined ratio for September declined 0.2 percentage points from the year-ago period to 93.1 percent.

For September, the company's total personal lines policies in force increased 3 percent to 13.72 million, representing 4 percent increase in total personal auto policies and 2 percent growth in special lines policies.

Total commercial lines policies rose 6 percent to 549 thousand. Property business policies written totaled 1.07 million.

PGR is trading at $32.63, up $0.80 or 2.51 percent on a volume of 406,468 shares.