Yahoo Finance Here's Why You Should Retain Lincoln National (LNC) Now
Lincoln National Corporation LNC is currently benefiting on the back of consistent revenue growth, changes in business mix, sound segmental performances, cost-curbing efforts and strong financial position.
Zacks Rank & Price Performance
Lincoln National carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), at present.
The stock has gained 42% in a year against the industry’s decline of 3.6%. The Zacks Finance sector rose 22.2% in a year. The S&P Index rallied 23.8% in the same time frame.
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Robust Growth Prospects
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Lincoln National’s 2022 earnings suggests year-over-year growth of 27.4%. The expected long-term earnings growth rate is pegged at 42.9%, better than the industry’s average of 19.3%.
Sound Earnings Surprise History
LNC’s earnings beat estimates in two of the trailing four quarters and missed twice, the average surprise being 2.11%.
Business Tailwinds
Lincoln National’s revenues have been growing consistently since 2010 (except for 2016). Strong performances of Annuities, Life Insurance, Retirement Plan Services and Group Protection segments coupled with higher fee income stemming from variable annuities are likely to drive revenues in the days ahead.
The Life Insurance business continues to benefit on the back of new business generation, strong retention rates, product introductions and upgradations of the existing ones. Meanwhile, increased account values and a well-performing alternative investment portfolio have been driving the Annuities business, through which LNC offers a suite of variable and fixed annuities as well as indexed fixed and variable annuities. It is worth mentioning that Lincoln National has several variable annuities in place including Lincoln Investor Advantage, Lincoln Level Advantage indexed variable annuity and Lincoln ChoicePlus.
The life insurer utilizes its retirement, insurance and wealth protection expertise to cater to the financial goals of over 17 million customers. Thereby, a diversified business portfolio puts Lincoln National on track to witness sales growth in the days ahead. The surge in demand for insurance and protection products due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the advent of newer variants of the virus provides the perfect scenario for LNC to capitalize on.
Lincoln National is committed to altering its business mix to include more products without long-term guarantees that are less affected by interest rates. The intensified focus on non-guaranteed products is anticipated to lower the company’s risk profile, which sounds well amid periods of low-interest rates.
The company has pursued multiple expense management efforts, which provides a boost to its margins. Lincoln National makes use of advanced technologies to bolster business scale and provide a digitally-enabled customer experience. All these initiatives put LNC on track to achieve its long-term growth target of 8-10% in earnings per share.
The liquidity position of the life insurer appears strong, with a solid cash balance and declining debt levels. A strong financial stand allows LNC to pursue several growth-related efforts and tactically deploy capital via share buybacks and dividend hikes.
Stocks to Consider
Some better-ranked stocks in the insurance space include Fidelity National Financial, Inc. FNF, Markel Corporation (MKL) and RLI Corp. RLI. While Fidelity National sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), Markel and RLI Corp carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Fidelity National’s earnings surpassed estimates in each of the last four quarters, the average surprise being 38.18%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for FNF’s 2022 earnings has moved north by 4.6% in the past 60 days. Fidelity National has a VGM Score of B.
The bottom line of Markel outpaced earnings estimates in three of the last four quarters and missed once, the average surprise being 233.34%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for MKL’s 2022 earnings suggests an improvement of 28.4% from the year-ago reported figure, while the same for revenues suggests growth of 10.6%. The consensus mark has moved north by 0.4% in the past 60 days. Markel boasts of a VGM Score of A.
RLI Corp’s earnings surpassed estimates in each of the trailing four quarters, the average surprise being 39.84%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for RLI’s 2022 earnings indicates a rise of 6.4% year over year, while the same for revenues suggests an improvement of 10.6%. The consensus mark of RLI Corp has moved north by 2.8% in the past 60 days.
Shares of Fidelity National, Markel and RLI Corp have gained 32.8%, 21.5% and 8.2%, respectively, in a year.
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Lincoln National Corporation (LNC) : Free Stock Analysis Report
RLI Corp. (RLI) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Markel Corporation (MKL) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Fidelity National Financial, Inc. (FNF) : Free Stock Analysis Report
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