Chubb Ltd CB shares are trading lower by 5% to $275.89 going into the close of Monday’s session. Shares of insurance companies are trading lower while Floridians experience evacuation orders as Category 5 Hurricane Milton approaches the state. The region is still recovering from damage due to Hurricane Helene.
What Happened: Shares of Chubb, one of the world's largest property and casualty insurers, fell today as Hurricane Milton intensified and headed toward Florida’s Gulf Coast. This comes less than two weeks after Hurricane Helene made landfall in the state, raising concerns over back-to-back financial pressures on insurers.
Chubb, known for its extensive portfolio of property, flood, and catastrophe insurance, faces heightened risk from these powerful storms. Florida is one of the company’s key markets for homeowner and commercial property insurance, and the potential damage from Hurricane Milton—expected to be a Category 4 or 5 storm—could lead to a surge in claims.
The cumulative effect of Helene and Milton, both major hurricanes, could significantly impact Chubb's profitability in the fourth quarter.
Hurricane Helene caused significant but manageable damage, leading to initial relief among insurers. However, the threat posed by Milton is amplifying concerns. Meteorologists expect Milton to affect a larger geographic area, particularly the Tampa Bay region, and the storm's size and intensity suggest higher levels of destruction, including wind damage, flooding and business interruptions.
Given that Chubb provides comprehensive hurricane coverage, it could face hundreds of millions of dollars in claims.
What Else: Chubb has long been regarded as one of the most financially resilient insurers, with robust reinsurance arrangements and capital reserves to manage catastrophic events. However, consecutive hurricanes of this magnitude could pressure its underwriting performance and trigger larger-than-anticipated payouts, hurting its combined ratio—a key measure of profitability in the insurance industry.
If Milton causes extensive infrastructure damage, Chubb could see a higher volume of claims than initially forecasted.
Additionally, the cost of handling claims, such as deploying adjusters and addressing policyholder needs in hard-hit areas, can inflate Chubb’s expenses. Given the already strained resources from Hurricane Helene, the added burden from Milton raises fears of longer recovery timelines and potentially larger economic losses.
Investors are cautious as Chubb’s exposure to natural disasters remains a key risk to the company's financial outlook. While home improvement and utility stocks may see gains due to increased demand for repairs and backup energy systems, Chubb and other insurers are vulnerable to unexpected, substantial losses from back-to-back hurricanes.
How To Buy CB Stock
By now you're likely curious about how to participate in the market for Chubb – be it to purchase shares, or even attempt to bet against the company.
Buying shares is typically done through a brokerage account. You can find a list of possible trading platforms here. Many will allow you to buy ‘fractional shares,' which allows you to own portions of stock without buying an entire share. For example, some stock, like Berkshire Hathaway, can cost thousands of dollars to own just one share. However, if you only want to invest a fraction of that, brokerages will allow you to do so.
If you're looking to bet against a company, the process is more complex. You'll need access to an options trading platform, or a broker who will allow you to ‘go short' a share of stock by lending you the shares to sell. The process of shorting a stock can be found at this resource. Otherwise, if your broker allows you to trade options, you can either buy a put option, or sell a call option at a strike price above where shares are currently trading – either way it allows you to profit off of the share price decline.
According to data from Benzinga Pro, CB has a 52-week high of $294.18 and a 52-week low of $205.64.
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