Arch Capital Group Beats Earnings Handedly (ACGL)

Arch Capital Group Ltd. ACGL reports Q2 earnings of $2.48 versus estimates of $2.28. The company’s book value per common share was $82.07 as of June 30th, which is a 6.7% increase, from $76.91 per share, as of March 31st. This is a 12.4% increase, from $73.01 per share, as of December 31, 2009. The Company's after-tax EPS averaged a 13.0% annualized return on average common equity for the 2010 second quarter, compared to 18.6% for the 2009 second quarter. During the 2010 second quarter, the Company repurchased 3.6 million common shares for an aggregate purchase price of $269.1 million. Since the inception of the share repurchase program through June 30, 2010, ACGL has repurchased 28.1 million common shares for an aggregate purchase price of $1.96 billion. At June 30, 2010, $541.1 million of repurchases were available under the share repurchase program. Shares of ACGL were slightly higher in the after-hours. Arch Capital Group Ltd. writes insurance and reinsurance on a worldwide basis. The company operates in two underwriting segments: insurance and reinsurance. Its insurance operations are conducted in Bermuda, the United States, Europe, Canada, Australia and South Africa.