A.M. Best Rates New Allstate Units - Analyst Blog
December 23 2011 - 6:15AM
Zacks
The credit rating agency, A.M. Best Co. upgraded the Financial
Strength Rating (FSR) and Issuer Credit Rating (ICR) of
Allstate Corp.’s (ALL) recently acquired
subsidiary Esurance Insurance Company. The rating agency upgraded
the FSR to “A+” from “A-” and ICR to “aa-” from “a-” with a stable
outlook.
Concurrently, A.M. Best upgraded the FSR of Esurance’s
subsidiary Esurance Property and Casualty Insurance Company (EPC)
to “A+” from “A-” and ICR to “aa-” from “a-”. The rating
agency also affirmed the FSR of A- (Excellent) and ICR of “a-” of
Esurance Insurance Company of New Jersey (EICNJ), another
subsidiary of Esurance. All these ratings of the subsidiaries also
carry a stable outlook.
The ratings
upgrades come on the back of low operational risk of the
companies due to the support provided by Allstate Insurance Company
to EIC and EPC and Allstate New Jersey Insurance Company to EICNJ
through full reinsurance. The ratings also reflect A.M Best’s
expectation that the acquisition will be accretive to Allstate’s
earnings by significantly expanding its distribution channel.
However, the ratings of the old umbrella company, Esurance
Insurance Group, have been withdrawn after the acquisition.
Allstate completed the acquisition of Esurance and Answer Financial
(which was acquired by Esurance in 2008) from White
Mountains Insurance Group Ltd. (WTM) in October 2011.
The impact of the acquisition on earnings is expected to break even till the
second full year of ownership and accretive thereafter. Currently,
the Zacks Consensus Estimate for Allstate’s fourth quarter earnings
stand at 90 cents per share, showing a jump of 79% from the
year-ago quarter. 1 out of 20 firms revised its estimate downward,
while no upward revisions have been witnessed in the past 30
days.
For 2011, earnings are estimated to be 77 cents per share,
sinking about 73% from 2010. Allstate carries a Zacks #3 Rank,
implying a short-term Hold rating with no clear directional
pressure over the near term.
ALLSTATE CORP (ALL): Free Stock Analysis Report
WHITE MTN INS (WTM): Free Stock Analysis Report
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