Investment losses and rising policy claims pushed Allstate Corp. (ALL) to a first-quarter loss and raised the question of whether the company will need to raise capital in the next year.

"We think we're in good shape" to maintain adequate capital "over and above" what will be required, even if the downturn continues throughout the year, Chairman and Chief Executive Thomas J. Wilson said during a conference call Friday to discuss the results.

Still, shares of the biggest publicly traded auto and homeowners insurer sank Friday, trading recently at $24.60, down 10.1%, as share prices rose for most other large insurers.

Analysts were mixed in their views.

Raymond James analyst David O. Lewis said in a note Friday that he saw higher homeowners claims as driving Allstate's earnings miss but maintained his strong buy rating on the expectation that "the stock will trade higher as unrealized losses contract and investors become more confident in Allstate's capital adequacy."

Sandler O'Neill analyst Paul Newsome said Allstate's reported book value per share dropped more than he expected, and was brought down by market-value losses of $590 million in Allstate's investment portfolio.

Allstate reported a first-quarter loss of $274 million, or 51 cents a share, compared with year-earlier earnings of $348 million, or 62 cents a share. Operating earnings, which exclude investment gains and losses, fell to 84 cents a share from $1.33.

Revenue dropped 2.5% to $7.88 billion, reflecting a 23% decline in net investment income and lower property-liability premiums.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expected operating earnings of $1.23 a share on revenue of $8.16 billion. as investment losses hit the bottom line and the company suffered a small revenue decline.

CEO Wilson said customer loyalty remained high, but, because of the recession, customers were shopping their insurance coverage more than usual, and customers were switching insurers to find lower rates.

Claims in its homeowners business rose in the quarter largely because of a large number of storm-related events which weren't big enough to qualify as catastrophes but which drove up losses over the quarter, Wilson said.

-By Lavonne Kuykendall, Dow Jones Newswires; 312-750-4141; lavonne.kuykendall@dowjones.com

(Jay Miller contributed to this report.)