Multi-line Insurance

While William Shatner gets all the press (and why not?) perhaps many people do not realize Priceline.com (PCLN) gets a huge portion of revenue overseas, especially in Europe.  It seems (wait for it) foreign strength combined with cost cutting ("expense control") buoyed yet another domestic company...

Bruce Berkowitz has added a position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) to his Fairholme Capital fund according to Market Folly. The rest of the portfolio is broken down like this: 1. Sears Holdings (SHLD): 7.7% of the portfolio 2. AIG (AIG): 6.8% 3. Citigroup (C): 5.4% 4. Goldman Sachs (GS): 5.4% 5....

After enduring stress with respect to pricing pressure and reduced insured exposure through mid-2009, the overall health of the U.S. insurance industry has improved to a great extent in 2010. Though the market turmoil forced many companies to take immense write-downs, the worst of the crisis...

Loews Corporation (L) reported its second-quarter 2010 net income of 87 cents per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 82 cents. Results compare favorably with 78 cents per share in the prior-year quarter. Net income was $366 million compared with $340 million in second quarter 2009....

Cusick’s Corner After the early session pop, trading has been a grinding to the upside and the bulls are in control. The trading volume has been light, typical for summer. Adding a little more fuel to this upside move -- Copper (HGU10 +.075) and Crude (CLU10 +2.39), both plays that the world’s...

• Humana (NYSE: HUM) posted second quarter earnings of $2.00, versus Zacks estimates of $1.63, on revenues of $8.65 billion, versus Zacks estimates of $8.58 billion. The company provided full-year guidance of $5.65-$5.75 • NRG Energy (NYSE: NRG) topped estimates with second quarter earnings of 81...

Pre-open movers US stock futures jumped up today, driven by impressive earnings reported by HSBC Holdings (NYSE: HBC). While futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 126 points to 10,543, those on the S&P 500 added 15.40 points to 1,114. Meanwhile, Nasdaq 100 futures gained 21.25...

US stock futures jumped up today, driven by impressive earnings reported by HSBC Holdings and BNP Paribas. While futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 126 points to 10,543, those on the S&P 500 added 15.40 points to 1,114. Meanwhile, Nasdaq 100 futures gained 21.25 points to 1884...

Cusick’s Corner Tech, NASDAQ continues to be under pressure and is lagging the other two major indices -- S&P and RUT. Tech needs to start to challenge that 2300 level on the NAZ Composite. The latter two indices may have confirmed a bounce in the 10 week retracement, clustering at key levels...

Shares of Genworth Financial (NYSE: GNW) are off almost 15% this morning after the financial services company badly missed earnings estimates yesterday. Shares of Genworth are now down to $13.49, off $2.30 from yesterdays close.

Sterne Agee released a report on Thursday where it reiterated its “buy” rating on Assurant, Inc. (NYSE: AIZ). Analysts have also increased its price target of $44.00 on shares of AIZ. Shares began the day Thursday trading at $36.48. Sterne Agee wrote, “AIZ reported operating EPS of $1.35, well...

Genworth Financial Inc. (NYSE: GNW) reports Q2 earnings of $0.24 versus estimates of $0.28. Genworth Financial Inc. reports Q2 revenues of $2.41 billion versus estimates of $2.56 billion. The company said that net premiums for the quarter totaled $1.47 billion and that stockholder’s equity was $...

Analysts at JP Morgan reiterate their "neutral" rating on Assurant Inc (NYSE: AIZ), while raising their estimates for the company. The target price for AIZ has been raised from $37 to $39. JP Morgan says, “Earnings exceeded our estimate and margins across all businesses were robust. Poor sales...

Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) is facing a threat by the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission to bring in outside accountants to comb through the bank's systems for data on its derivatives business, the panel's chairman has said. The commission will not back down from demands for information Goldman's...

BOSTON (TheStreet) -- As 79 million Baby Boomers march toward retirement, Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC), Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) and MetLife (NYSE: MET) are there to offer reverse mortgages. The three companies account for 52% of the retail and wholesale reverse-mortgage marketplace, according to...