American Financial Group Beats Earnings Estimates (AFG)

Cincinnati, Ohio based property and casualty insurance company American Financial Group, Inc. AFG announced after the market closed on Monday that it beat consensus Wall Street earnings estimates. American Financial Group, Inc reported that its 3rd quarter net earnings rose to $132 million, or $1.21 per share, up from $127 million, or $1.09 per share, a year earlier. The company's core net operating earnings came in at $1.07 per share. According to a survey of analysts by Thomson Reuters, the average Wall Street estimate called for earnings of $1.01 per share. Co-chief executive officers S. Craig Lindner and Carl H. Lindner III said, “Our business units produced profitable underwriting results for the third quarter and first nine months of 2010 amid a continuing challenging economic environment. AFG's investment portfolio continues to perform very well, as we have capitalized on market opportunities over the last several years. In a period of unprecedented turmoil in the mortgage markets, our $3 billion non-agency residential mortgage-backed securities portfolio has generated an annualized total return of approximately 15% since year end 2007, significantly outperforming fixed income indices over this same period. American Financial Group, Inc. (AFG) closed Monday trading at $30.77 per share. Analysts covering the company's stock give it a consensus price target of $34.50 per share. Read more from Benzinga's Company news.