Earnings Preview: The Hartford Financial (HIG)

The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. HIG is currently lower on the session by 0.25%, trading at $23.65. The company is scheduled to report earnings today, after the closing bell. • Estimates The Street is looking for Q3 earnings per share of $0.97 on revenue of $2.45 billion. These estimates have risen by $0.13 (+15.47%) over the past 90 days. The Whisper number for HIG is $1.09. • Guidance The Street is looking for Q4 EPS of $0.94 on revenue of $2.37 billion. The full year 2010 estimates are $2.25 per share on revenue of $9.70 billion; FY 2011 is at $3.66 per share on revenues of $9.89 billion. • Technical Picture Although HIG is practically unchanged for the year, it has not gotten there in simple fashion. Shares have had wild swings higher and lower for much of the year; recently shares cascaded lower from May to August, falling some 36% during that period. Since then, shares have rebounded and regained the 50-day and 200-day moving averages. HIG is now testing them from above. • Volatility Both historical volatility and implied volatility have been falling for the past few months, following a spike higher in May. Currently HI is at 32% and IV is at 42%. The front month $24.00 straddle is trading at 43.88%; the December $24.00 straddle is trading at 39.85%. Vol is skewed toward the puts in both months. The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. is an insurance and financial services company. It provides investment products, individual life, group life and group disability insurance products, and property and casualty insurance products in the United States. The Hartford is organized into two operations: Life, and Property and Casualty. The Life and Property & Casualty operations conduct business in 11 operating segments. Life is organized into six segments: Retail Products Group, Individual Life, Group Benefits, Retirement Plans, and International and Institutional Solutions Group.