Genworth Financial Misses Estimates, Citigroup Maintains Sell

Citigroup has published a research report on Genworth Financial Inc. GNW after the company reported 4Q earnings results that fell short of analyst estimates. In the report, Citigroup writes "4Q10 operating loss of ($0.28) was well below our $0.17E which was consistent with First Call consensus. U.S. Mortgage Insurance (MI) had another very poor showing as its results included $228M or $0.47/share of reserve strengthening that were partially offset by a $0.26 benefit from loss mitigation and loan modification activities. Removing both of these suggests a preliminary overall core operating EPS level for GNW of around $0.04/share. Positively, sales of life insurance and long-term care were good as overall Retirement & Protection segment earnings rose 7.0% Y-O-Y. Similarly, International MI came through with steady improvement in Canada and Australia as each delivered good gains in operating earnings and net insurance written." Citigroup maintains its Sell rating on Genworth Financial, which closed yesterday at $13.94