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Key Takeaways
- Insurance company Progressive added more policies, sending its first-quarter income soaring.
- The insurer’s net premiums written rose 17.7%, and net premiums earned gained 19% in the latest period.
- Progressive’s combined ratio was hurt by losses incurred from coverage of a big March storm in Texas and the Midwest.
Shares of Progressive ( PGR ) gained Friday after the insurance provider posted a more-than-fivefold increase in net income after adding more policies.
In its March monthly update, the company reported first-quarter net income of $2.33 billion, more than five times its net income from the same period a year ago. Earnings per share (EPS) came in at $3.94, beating estimates. Revenue was up 20.1% to $17.24 billion, although that was short of forecasts.
Net premiums written increased 17.7% to $18.96 billion, and net premiums earned rose 19% to $16.15 billion. Policies in force gained 7.1% to $30.83 billion.
Progressive had a combined ratio —a measure of profitability used by insurance companies that is calculated by taking the sum of incurred losses and expenses and dividing that by the earned premium —of 86.1, a drop from 99.0 the year-earlier quarter. In March, the company’s combined ratio fell to 84.3 from 106.2 in March 2023, mainly because of costs to cover storms in the month that hit Texas and the Midwest.
Progressive said that it planned to release its actual first-quarter financial statement on May 6.
Progressive shares gained 0.8% to finish Friday’s session at $203.90. The stock has gained 29% so far this year,