AFSI EPS Growth In 2Q10 To Benefit From Acquisitions And New Product Introductions

Analyst Elizabeth C Malone of Wunderlich Securities Inc reiterates her “buy” rating on AmTrust Financial Services Inc AFSI. The target price for AFSI is set to $18. According to Wunderlich Securities, “AFSI is expected to report 2Q10 operating results on Tuesday, August 3, 2010, before the market opens and will hold a conference call at 9:00 a.m. ET. We anticipate AFSI will report 2Q10 EPS increased 4% to $0.56 compared to $0.53 a year ago. Our estimate is above the consensus of $0.53. We expect Small Commercial drove EPS growth in 2Q10 benefiting from acquisitions and new product introductions in the division.” “We believe the company’s underwriting discipline and enterprising use of reinsurance produced a stable underwriting result compared to a year ago. We assume reinsurance contributed to a decline in the expense ratio for 2Q10 to 21.9% compared to 23.6% a year ago. In addition, we believe the year-over-year improvement in the estimated 2Q10 expense ratio is due to improved economies of scale,” the analyst says. More Analyst Ratings here.