AIZ

A month has gone by since the last earnings report for Assurant (AIZ). Shares have lost about 5.8% in that time frame, underperforming the S&P 500. But investors have to be wondering, will the recent negative trend continue leading up to its next earnings release, or is Assurant due for a breakout? Well, first let's take a quick look at its most recent earnings report in order to get a better handle on the recent catalysts for Assurant, Inc. before we dive into how investors and analysts have reacted as of late. AIZ Q2 Earnings Beat Estimates on Lifestyle and Housing StrengthAssurant, Inc. reported second-quarter 2026 adjusted earnings of $6.41 per share, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $5.16 by 24.2%. The bottom line increased 25.7% year over year. Revenues rose 9.4% to $3.46 billion and surpassed the consensus estimate of $3.40 billion by 1.8%. Results benefited from strong Global Lifestyle and Global Housing earnings, lower catastrophe losses and growth in segment net earned premiums, fees and other income. Net earned premiums increased 6.9% year over year to $2.77 billion. The figure was higher than our estimate of $2.71 billion. Fees and other income climbed 19.6% year over year to $554.6 million, reflecting continued expansion across the company’s protection and service programs. The figure was higher than our estimate of $500.3 million.Net investment income advanced 10.6% year over year to $142.4 million. The figure was lower than our estimate of $153.1 million. Total segment net earned premiums, fees and other income grew 8.9% to $3.32 billion, supported by gains in both operating segments. Global Lifestyle revenues increased 9.5% year over year to $2.67 billion. The figure was higher than our estimate of $2.61 billion. Net earned premiums, fees and other income rose 9.4% year over year to $2.57 billion, primarily due to higher global supply-chain volumes, device protection programs, extended service contracts and financial services contributions. The figure was higher than our estimate of $2 billion.Adjusted EBITDA increased 21.4% year over year to $244.4 million. The figure was higher than our estimate of $196.2 million. Connected Living adjusted EBITDA surged 29.3% year over year to $170.4 million, including $10 million of favorable non-run-rate benefits. Excluding those benefits, earnings rose 22%, driven by global mobile growth and financial services.Global Automotive adjusted EBITDA increased 6.3% year over year to $74 million, aided by growth within global partnerships. The number of protected mobile devices rose 6.2% to 69 million, while serviced devices increased 32.1% to 7.4 million. Global Housing revenues increased 7% year over year to $783.4 million. The figure was higher than our estimate of $748.1 million. Net earned premiums, fees and other income advanced 7.2% year over year to $747.8 million, primarily reflecting Homeowners growth in specialty products and lender-placed insurance, along with lower catastrophe reinsurance costs. The figure was higher than our estimate of $709.3 million.Adjusted EBITDA rose 28.2% year over year to $274.8 million. The figure was higher than our estimate of $217.4 million. Excluding reportable catastrophes, adjusted EBITDA increased 17.5% to $287 million, mainly due to favorable non-catastrophe loss experience and lower-than-typical claims frequency.Reportable catastrophe losses declined to $12.2 million from $29.8 million. The Global Housing combined ratio improved 560 basis points year over year to 69.8%, while the loss ratio decreased 620 basis points year over year to 33.6%. Results were partly offset by $12 million of lower favorable prior-period reserve development. Total benefits, losses and expenses increased 7.2% year over year to $3.08 billion. The figure was higher than our estimate of $3 billion. Cost of sales jumped 30.8% to $302.6 million, while general expenses increased 10.2% to $668.8 million. Corporate and Other recorded an adjusted EBITDA loss of $40 million, wider than the year-ago loss of $29.8 million. The deterioration reflected higher employee-related expenses and organic investments supporting the Home Warranty business, partially offset by increased investment income from a larger asset base. Despite the expense increase, the pre-tax income margin expanded 180 basis points to 11.3%. The net income margin improved 130 basis points to 9%, supported by stronger operating earnings and lower catastrophe losses. Holding company liquidity totaled $911 million as of June 30, 2026, exceeding the company’s minimum target by $686 million. Operating segments paid $235 million in dividends to the holding company during the quarter. Assurant repurchased about 310,000 shares for $75 million and paid $48 million in common stock dividends. From July 1 through July 31, the company bought back an additional 108,000 shares for $30 million, leaving $544 million under its authorization. Total assets were $36.08 billion, while stockholders’ equity increased to $6.10 billion from $5.87 billion at the end of 2025. The debt-to-total-capital ratio improved 90 basis points year over year to 26.6%. Assurant now expects adjusted EBITDA, excluding reportable catastrophes, to increase by a mid-single-digit percentage in 2026. Excluding the impact of lower favorable prior-year reserve development, underlying growth is expected to approximate 10%. Global Lifestyle adjusted EBITDA is projected to rise by a low-double-digit percentage, supported by Connected Living and Global Automotive. Global Housing adjusted EBITDA, excluding catastrophes, is expected to grow modestly. Adjusted earnings per share, excluding reportable catastrophes, are also expected to increase by a mid-single-digit percentage. Corporate and Other’s adjusted EBITDA loss is now projected at about $145 million. Management expects share repurchases toward the upper end of its previously announced $300-$350 million range. Since the earnings release, investors have witnessed a flat trend in estimates revision. At this time, Assurant has a average Growth Score of C, though it is lagging a bit on the Momentum Score front with a D. However, the stock has a grade of A on the value side, putting it in the top quintile for value investors. Overall, the stock has an aggregate VGM Score of B. If you aren't focused on one strategy, this score is the one you should be interested in. Assurant has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). We expect an above average return from the stock in the next few months. Assurant is part of the Zacks Insurance - Multi line industry. Over the past month, MGIC Investment (MTG), a stock from the same industry, has gained 1.5%. The company reported its results for the quarter ended June 2026 more than a month ago. MGIC reported revenues of $297.61 million in the last reported quarter, representing a year-over-year change of -2.6%. EPS of $0.87 for the same period compares with $0.82 a year ago. MGIC is expected to post earnings of $0.78 per share for the current quarter, representing a year-over-year change of -6%. Over the last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate has changed -0.6%. MGIC has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) based on the overall direction and magnitude of estimate revisions. Additionally, the stock has a VGM Score of F. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Assurant, Inc. (AIZ) : Free Stock Analysis Report MGIC Investment Corporation (MTG) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com). Zacks Investment Research

Property and casualty insurer The Allstate Corporation ALL appears well positioned for growth, supported by improving underwriting profitability, rising investment income, solid policy growth and increased capital returns. Its shares have gained 23.6% year to date, comfortably outperforming the industry’s 2.4% increase and the S&P 500’s 11.7% rise, signaling investor confidence. Image Source: Zacks Investment Research The rising frequency and severity of natural catastrophes are increasing claims costs but also creating growth opportunities for the property and casualty insurance industry. Greater exposure to weather-related risks is raising awareness among households and businesses, supporting demand for broader and more tailored insurance coverage. For Allstate, this environment can drive premium growth, improve pricing adequacy and encourage product innovation as the company adjusts coverage and rates to better reflect evolving risk. Allstate is growing without sacrificing margins. Policies in force reached roughly 216 million in the second quarter. Auto and homeowners policies continued to increase, while issued applications rose 9.9%. It is steadily scaling its Protection Services business, creating a complementary growth engine beyond traditional insurance. Auto’s first-half underlying combined ratio was 88.5, down from the year-ago level of 89.5, substantially better than the roughly mid-90s level Allstate has historically viewed. Management will likely trade some margin for profitable growth where appropriate. Investment income has become another meaningful earnings engine. Net investment income increased 9.8% in the first quarter and then 33.8% in the second quarter to $1 billion, benefiting from a larger portfolio, higher fixed-income yields and stronger performance-based investment returns. Allstate had about $9.5 billion of deployable holding-company capital following the second quarter and repurchased $1 billion of stock during the quarter, along with paying $280 million in dividends. Over the past decade, ALL repurchased 39% of its outstanding shares. It still has $2.6 billion left under its buyback authorization. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2026 adjusted earnings for Allstate is currently pegged at $34.45 per share, which has witnessed 12 upward revisions against no downward movement over the past month. During this time, the consensus mark for 2027 earnings improved 4%. The consensus estimate for 2026 and 2027 revenues suggests 4.4% and 4% year-over-year increases, respectively. It beat earnings estimates in each of the past four quarters, with an average surprise of 45.3%. The Allstate Corporation price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | The Allstate Corporation Quote ALL is trading comparatively cheap at the moment from a valuation standpoint. Its forward earnings multiple of 8.73X is lower than its five-year median of 10.90X and the industry average of 26.85X. Allstate now has a Value Score of A. Allstate currently sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). Some other top-ranked stocks in the broader insurance space are Horace Mann Educators Corporation HMN, CNO Financial Group, Inc. CNO and Assurant, Inc. AIZ. While Horace Mann Educators also has a Zacks Rank #1, CNO Financial and Assurant are carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Horace Mann Educators’ current-year earnings is pegged at $4.78 per share, which has witnessed two upward revisions over the past 30 days and no movement in the opposite direction. Furthermore, the consensus estimate for HMN’s 2026 revenues indicates a 3.9% year-over-year increase. The consensus mark for CNO Financial’s current-year earnings is pegged at $4.74 per share, which indicates 16.2% year-over-year growth. It has witnessed two upward estimate revisions against none in the opposite direction in the past 30 days. CNO beat earnings estimates in each of the last four quarters, with an average surprise of 23.2%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Assurant’s current year earnings is pegged at $22.05 per share, which indicates 11.5% year-over-year growth. It has witnessed five upward estimate revisions against none in the opposite direction in the past month. AIZ beat earnings estimates in each of the last four quarters, with an average surprise of 17.7%. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report The Allstate Corporation (ALL) : Free Stock Analysis Report CNO Financial Group, Inc. (CNO) : Free Stock Analysis Report Assurant, Inc. (AIZ) : Free Stock Analysis Report Horace Mann Educators Corporation (HMN) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com). Zacks Investment Research

Earlier this month, Assurant, Inc. announced that its Board of Directors declared a quarterly dividend of US$0.88 per common share, payable on September 28, 2026 to stockholders of record as of August 31, 2026. Alongside this dividend decision, a recent analyst upgrade citing improved earnings prospects has renewed investor attention on how Assurant balances income returns with growth headwinds. Next, we'll examine how the recent Zacks Rank upgrade, pointing to improving earnings expectations, may reshape Assurant's investment narrative. AI is about to change healthcare. These 41 stocks are working on everything from early diagnostics to drug discovery. The best part - they are all under $10b in market cap - there's still time to get in early. To own Assurant, you need to be comfortable with a story built on recurring fees from device protection and housing products while accepting growth constraints and regulatory exposure. The latest US$0.88 dividend affirmation reinforces the income side of that thesis, but does not materially change the near term catalyst around earnings momentum or the key risk tied to regulatory and competitive pressure in its core lines. The recent Zacks Rank upgrade, based on improving earnings expectations, is most relevant here because it directly addresses the same short term earnings catalyst that dividend investors are watching. Together, the stronger earnings profile and steady capital returns frame Assurant as a cash generative insurer where execution against growth headwinds, especially in mobile and housing protection, remains the central question. Yet investors should also be aware that if heightened regulatory scrutiny on lender placed insurance intensifies, it could... Read the full narrative on Assurant (it's free!) Assurant's narrative projects $16.1 billion revenue and $1.2 billion earnings by 2029. This requires 6.2% yearly revenue growth and about a $0.1 billion earnings increase from $1.1 billion today. Uncover how Assurant's forecasts yield a $322.33 fair value, a 13% upside to its current price. Two members of the Simply Wall St Community estimate Assurant’s fair value between US$322.33 and US$531.57, showing how far apart individual views can be. You should weigh these against the reliance on connected device and embedded insurance growth that underpins the current catalyst for earnings. Explore 2 other fair value estimates on Assurant - why the stock might be worth as much as 87% more than the current price! Don't just follow the ticker - dig into the data and build a conviction that's truly your own. A great starting point for your Assurant research is our analysis highlighting 3 key rewards and 1 important warning sign that could impact your investment decision. Our free Assurant research report provides a comprehensive fundamental analysis summarized in a single visual - the Snowflake - making it easy to evaluate Assurant's overall financial health at a glance. The market won't wait. These fast-moving stocks are hot now. Grab the list before they run: Uncover the next big thing with 22 elite penny stocks that balance risk and reward. The future of work is here. Discover the 37 top robotics and automation stocks leading the charge in AI-driven automation and industrial transformation. This technology could replace computers: discover 24 stocks that are working to make quantum computing a reality. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Companies discussed in this article include AIZ. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email [email protected]

Let’s dig into the relative performance of Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) and its peers as we unravel the now-completed Q2 property & casualty insurance earnings season. Property & Casualty (P&C) insurers protect individuals and businesses against financial loss from damage to property or from legal liability. This is a cyclical industry, and the sector benefits when there is 'hard market', characterized by strong premium rate increases that outpace loss and cost inflation, resulting in robust underwriting margins. The opposite is true in a 'soft market'. Interest rates also matter, as they determine the yields earned on fixed-income portfolios. On the other hand, P&C insurers face a major secular headwind from the increasing frequency and severity of catastrophe losses due to climate change. Furthermore, the liability side of the business is pressured by 'social inflation'—the trend of rising litigation costs and larger jury awards. The 32 property & casualty insurance stocks we track reported a satisfactory Q2. As a group, revenues beat analysts’ consensus estimates by 2.3% while next quarter’s revenue guidance was 0.9% above. In light of this news, share prices of the companies have held steady. On average, they are relatively unchanged since the latest earnings results. With roots dating back to 1892 when it was founded by a Civil War veteran, Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) provides specialized insurance products and services that protect major consumer purchases like mobile devices, vehicles, homes, and appliances. Assurant reported revenues of $3.46 billion, up 9% year on year. This print exceeded analysts’ expectations by 0.9%. Overall, it was an exceptional quarter for the company with a beat of analysts’ EPS estimates and net premiums earned in line with analysts’ estimates. The market was likely pricing in the results, and the stock is flat since reporting. It currently trades at $281.23. Is now the time to buy Assurant? Access our full analysis of the earnings results here, it’s free. Serving as a crucial bridge between homebuyers and the American dream of homeownership, Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) provides private mortgage insurance and title services that enable lenders to offer home loans with down payments of less than 20%. Essent Group reported revenues of $362.7 million, up 13.6% year on year, outperforming analysts’ expectations by 9.7%. The business had a stunning quarter with a beat of analysts’ EPS estimates. The market seems content with the results as the stock is up 4.2% since reporting. It currently trades at $68.27. Is now the time to buy Essent Group? Access our full analysis of the earnings results here, it’s free. Founded during the housing boom of 1977 and weathering multiple real estate cycles since, Radian Group (NYSE:RDN) provides mortgage insurance and real estate services, helping lenders manage risk and homebuyers achieve affordable homeownership. Radian Group reported revenues of $580.7 million, up 90.8% year on year, in line with analysts’ expectations. It was a softer quarter as it posted a significant miss of analysts’ EPS estimates. As expected, the stock is down 6.9% since the results and currently trades at $36.45. Read our full analysis of Radian Group’s results here. Named after the Arctic bowhead whale known for navigating challenging waters, Bowhead Specialty Holdings (NYSE:BOW) is a specialty insurance company that provides customized coverage for complex and high-risk commercial sectors. Bowhead Specialty reported revenues of $163.9 million, up 23% year on year. This number beat analysts’ expectations by 0.7%. More broadly, it was a slower quarter as it logged a significant miss of analysts’ net premiums earned estimates and EPS in line with analysts’ estimates. The stock is up 9.8% since reporting and currently trades at $33.58. Read our full, actionable report on Bowhead Specialty here, it’s free. Starting as a Florida "take-out" insurer that assumed policies from the state-backed Citizens Property Insurance Corporation, HCI Group (NYSE:HCI) provides property and casualty insurance, primarily homeowners coverage, while leveraging proprietary technology to improve underwriting and claims processing. HCI Group reported revenues of $246.7 million, up 11.1% year on year. This result topped analysts’ expectations by 2.5%. More broadly, it was a satisfactory quarter as it also produced an impressive beat of analysts’ net premiums earned estimates but a miss of analysts’ book value per share estimates. The stock is up 1.4% since reporting and currently trades at $183.38. Read our full, actionable report on HCI Group here, it’s free. Over the past year, investors have been forced to repeatedly answer the same question: what is the market’s biggest risk? The answer has changed several times, and each shift has reshaped market leadership. Late in 2025 and early 2026, artificial intelligence became the market’s primary uncertainty. Investors questioned whether AI would erode software pricing power and weaken competitive moats as AI made it easier to replicate once-differentiated products. By the spring, technology took a back seat to geopolitics. The U.S. conflict with Iran briefly became the market’s dominant narrative, raising concerns about oil prices, inflation, and global growth. But as energy markets remained orderly and fears of a prolonged supply disruption faded, investors quickly turned their focus back to fundamentals. Want to invest in winners with rock-solid fundamentals? Check out our Hidden Gem Stocks and add them to your watchlist. These companies are poised for growth regardless of the political or macroeconomic climate.

Image source: The Motley Fool. Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2026, at 8 a.m. ET Vice President of Investor Relations - Sean Moshier President and Chief Executive Officer - Keith Demmings Chief Financial Officer - Keith Meier Need a quote from a Motley Fool analyst? Email [email protected] Operator: Welcome to Assurant's Second Quarter 2026 Conference Call and Webcast. [Operator Instructions] It is now my pleasure to turn the floor over to Sean Moshier, Vice President of Investor Relations. You may begin. Sean Moshier: Thank you, operator, and good morning, everyone. We look forward to discussing our second quarter results with you today. Joining me for Assurant's conference call are Keith Demmings, our President and Chief Executive Officer; and Keith Meier, our Chief Financial Officer. Yesterday, after the market closed, we issued an earnings release announcing our results for the second quarter 2026. The release and corresponding financial supplement are available on assurant.com. Also on our website is a slide presentation for our webcast participants. Some of the statements made today are forward-looking. Forward-looking statements are based upon our historical and current expectations and subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated by these statements. Additional information regarding these factors can be found in the earnings release, presentation and financial supplement on our website as well as in our SEC reports. During today's call, we will refer to non-GAAP financial measures, which we believe are important to analyzing the company's performance. For more details on these measures, the most comparable GAAP measures and a reconciliation of the 2, please refer to the earnings release, presentation and financial supplement on our website. We'll start today's call with remarks before moving into Q&A. I will now turn the call over to Keith Demmings. Keith Demmings: Good morning, and thank you for joining us. Following a strong start to the year, we delivered our second consecutive quarter of record earnings. This was supported by profitable growth across Assurant, reinforcing the durability of our business model, value of our embedded partnerships and our disciplined approach to investing for the long term. Our second quarter results extended the momentum that we carried into the year with adjusted EBITDA and adjusted EPS growth rates in the high teens, both excluding reportable catastrophes. Through the first 6 months of 2026, we generated 12% adjusted EBITDA growth and 14% adjusted EPS growth, both excluding reportable cats. What's most important is what these results say about Assurant. In a dynamic operating environment, Assurant continues to deliver as we balance near-term execution with long-term investments, including within data, automation and AI. These capabilities are helping us operate with greater speed and precision, improve decision-making and strengthen the support we deliver for clients and consumers. At the same time, we're maintaining our disciplined approach to capital allocation, returning excess capital to shareholders while preserving flexibility to invest in attractive growth opportunities across the businesses. Most importantly, our performance continues to be powered by our people. Their commitment to execution, innovation and service is what enables Assurant to consistently deliver. As we look ahead, we're very well positioned to deliver our 10th consecutive year of profitable growth while continuing to create value for our clients, customers and shareholders. Our success is rooted in a clear strategy and business model built for durable growth. We're a trusted B2B2C partner to many of the world's leading brands with long-standing partnerships built by helping our clients solve complex challenges while serving hundreds of millions of consumers. Our relationships are grounded in transparency and a relentless focus on shared outcomes driven by operational excellence. We're strategic partners helping clients grow while strengthening customer loyalty. Our value extends well beyond protection products across Global Lifestyle and Global Housing. We've built integrated ecosystems of services, technology, data and operational capabilities supported by AI that create value throughout the client and customer journey. These capabilities are difficult to replicate and increasingly important as our clients seek partners who can solve broad business challenges at scale. In Connected Living, for example, we've evolved from a protection provider to a business partner that enables end-to-end mobile and technology solutions. Through continuous innovation powered by technology and a willingness to disrupt ourselves, we've expanded the value we deliver far beyond the original protection product. We remain laser-focused on markets where we have a clear right to win. Disciplined execution through global scale and specialized capabilities create meaningful competitive advantages and generate multiple paths for continued growth. The results speak for themselves. In addition to our exceptional year-to-date performance, Assurant has a multiyear track record of proven results. Since 2020, Assurant delivered an 11% compound annual growth rate in adjusted EBITDA and a 17% CAGR in adjusted EPS, both excluding catastrophes, while continuing to generate attractive returns for shareholders. Let's move to our segment highlights. Global Lifestyle delivered another outstanding quarter. Adjusted EBITDA increased 21%, both in the second quarter and year-to-date, reflecting continued momentum in Connected Living and ongoing earnings expansion in Global Automotive. In Connected Living, earnings increased 24% year-to-date, benefiting from growth with existing clients and continued optimization of recently added programs. Targeted investments in technology, capabilities, innovation and customer experience have supported significant momentum across the business and have created multiple growth vectors to support ongoing earnings growth. Our momentum is undeniable, and we're incredibly proud of how we've strengthened our market position. We've expanded and reinforced our relationship with T-Mobile, migrating UScellular's large in-force business and launching a new reverse logistics program through a co-located facility. We've made tremendous progress as we continue to expand and deepen partnerships with all other large U.S. mobile carriers and cable operators. We're driving growth through the optimization of programs across mobile, extended service contracts and financial services, including key wins with Telstra, Best Buy and Chase Card Services. We're extending our presence into adjacent markets including home warranty, where our partnership with the largest U.S. brokerage continues to progress. And internationally, we're expanding capabilities, deepening client relationships and increasing our presence in key markets around the world, particularly within mobile and extended service contracts. Our competitive position has enabled us to create differentiated value across the connected living value chain. Turning to Global Automotive. Earnings increased in the quarter, supported by growth in global partnerships. We also continue to see loss improvement. Year-to-date, adjusted EBITDA has grown 15%. We remain focused on deepening relationships with existing partners while expanding our global footprint. A key example is the long-term renewal with one of our largest automotive clients, which reflects the strength of our partnership and positions us to create additional value together over time. Internationally, we continue to gain traction with OEMs and vehicle retailers, further expanding our opportunities for auto growth. Moving to Global Housing. Our products continue to play an important role across the U.S. housing ecosystem while delivering strong earnings performance. Our Homeowners products and services support homeowners, mortgage servicers and lenders by protecting properties and maintaining continuity of coverage, contributing to stability across the housing ecosystem. Beyond protecting properties, our solutions facilitate the repair and recovery process following covered losses, supporting homeowners and helping preserve long-term property values. As we scale the business and continue to invest in AI and other technology, data and operational capabilities, we're enhancing the customer experience, improving efficiency and delivering value for clients, homeowners and policyholders. We're very pleased to announce a new partnership in our lender-placed business. During the second quarter, we began providing lender-placed insurance services to Freedom Mortgage, a top 10 U.S. mortgage servicing partner with approximately 2.6 million loans, further enhancing our market position and validating the competitive strength of our offerings. This partnership is the result of our operational excellence and commitment to delivering an exceptional customer experience. We continue to see additional opportunities to add new partnerships across the servicing market. Within renters, our Cover360 platform remains a key growth driver. After the second quarter launch of a new partner, we now serve 7 of the top 10 property management companies. Through deeper integration with PMC partners, Cover360 continues to improve penetration rates and coverage. Overall, our success across Global Housing has supported continued earnings expansion with 7% year-to-date adjusted EBITDA growth, excluding cats. Excluding prior year reserve development, underlying year-to-date EBITDA growth in housing was double digits. As we position Assurant to deliver our 10th consecutive year of profitable growth, our differentiation is clear. We have market-leading businesses, trusted client partnerships and a disciplined operating model with multiple avenues for growth. A growing portion of our earnings comes from embedded services and protection partnerships that generate recurring revenue streams and are less dependent on traditional insurance market cycles. Combining fee-based revenue, specialized protection products, strategic risk management and disciplined capital allocation creates a more stable and less cyclical earnings profile than many traditional property and casualty insurers. Within our countercyclical lender-placed business in housing, our risk profile remains broadly diversified across the United States, while our inflation guard mechanisms and pricing framework help mitigate claims inflation pressures over time. Taken together, these advantages give us confidence in the durability of our results across various market environments over the long term. We look forward to updating you on our continued progress in the quarters ahead. Now over to Keith Meier. Keith Meier: Thanks, Keith, and good morning, everyone. We were very pleased with the record performance in the quarter, driven by strength of both Global Lifestyle and Global Housing. Second quarter growth was exceptional with adjusted EBITDA increasing 18% and adjusted earnings per share growing 19%, both excluding cats. We're proud of the underlying strength of Assurant as we continue to drive growth and strong financial performance through our intense focus on innovation and product differentiation. Our outstanding second quarter performance supports another increase to our full year 2026 outlook. Before reviewing our increased outlook, let me start by highlighting our second quarter results, beginning with Global Lifestyle. Second quarter adjusted EBITDA increased 21% or $43 million compared to last year. Within Connected Living, EBITDA growth was 29% or $39 million. Results included non-run rate benefits of approximately $10 million from a client adjustment within extended service contracts and an international tax benefit within mobile. When normalized for these non-run rate items, Connected Living adjusted EBITDA increased by 22%. Strong growth was driven primarily by our mobile business. Our growing global supply chain business, which includes reverse logistics, trade-in and upgrade, claims fulfillment and other capabilities, serviced over 7 million devices, an increase of approximately 1.8 million compared to last year, driven by our new reverse logistics programs. Underlying margin improvement as we scaled and matured programs also contributed to growth. Within device protection programs, we continue to see strong subscriber growth over the last year, adding over 4 million devices protected across our U.S. and international partnerships. In addition, growth within Financial Services was led by the optimization of programs within our growing card benefits business. In Global Automotive, adjusted EBITDA increased 6% or $4 million. Growth was driven by the expansion of global partnerships, particularly in Latin America and Europe, where our value proposition and market credibility has led to higher earnings from scaling programs and new opportunities. Auto results continue to reflect improving loss experience. Moving to Global Housing. Second quarter adjusted EBITDA was $275 million, including $12 million of reportable catastrophes. Excluding cats, adjusted EBITDA was $287 million, an increase of $43 million or 18%. Results benefited from a lower-than-typical second quarter non-cat loss ratio of approximately 35%, excluding prior period reserve development. Favorable loss ratio trends are the result of reduced claims frequencies in the quarter, given the lower number of weather events. On a year-to-date basis, the non-cat loss ratio is relatively consistent with 2025. Lower cat reinsurance costs also contributed to growth, driven by favorable pricing following the April 1 placement of our 2026 program. Additionally, top line growth within specialty products and higher average premiums in lender-placed also contributed to growth. Second quarter results were partially offset by $12 million of lower favorable prior period reserve development. Within lender-placed, our total tracked loans grew 9% to over 34 million loans, driven by our exciting new partnership with Freedom Mortgage. As previously communicated, we did experience some fluctuation within our quarterly placement rate of 2.02%. Although relatively flat year-over-year, our placement rate was down sequentially. During the quarter, a client transferred a portion of their loan portfolio to another loan servicer, which was not an Assurant client. The decline to our placement rate was entirely driven by these loan movements, which were related to a small block of loans with a higher-than-average placement rate. Supported by the new client win, which will have policies ramp up over the next 12 months and our expectations for continued growth in 2026, we remain excited about the performance of our housing business as we continue to grow our leadership position in the market. Turning to capital. Our liquidity position at quarter end was $911 million, providing flexibility to continue to invest in growth, return capital to shareholders and drive innovation. This quarter, we returned $123 million to our shareholders, including $75 million of share repurchases and $48 million in dividends. Our strong capital position supported by record earnings enabled us to accelerate our repurchase plans during the first half of the year. Through July 31, we've repurchased an additional $30 million, bringing our year-to-date total to $230 million. Let's move on to our increased outlook for 2026. We now expect full year adjusted EBITDA and adjusted earnings per share to grow mid-single digits, both excluding cats, overcoming $71 million of lower favorable prior year reserve development. The reserve development includes $113 million in 2025 and $42 million in the first half of 2026. Excluding the impact of prior year reserve development, we expect approximately 10% underlying growth in both adjusted EBITDA and adjusted earnings per share, excluding cats. Global Lifestyle is expected to lead the growth for Assurant. We're increasing our outlook for Lifestyle and now expect growth of low double digits, reflecting our strong first half results. Connected Living results for the year will benefit from continued optimization of new programs, expansion with existing clients and contributions from new programs and capabilities, demonstrating the returns we've achieved through previous investments. Global Auto is expected to grow from higher investment income, continued loss improvement and growth of global partnerships. Turning to Global Housing. Our outlook has also increased as we now expect earnings to grow modestly, excluding cats. Absent impacts from lower prior year reserve development, we expect solid underlying growth for the full year. Consistent with our past approach, our 2026 outlook does not contemplate incremental prior year reserve development for the remainder of the year. From a capital perspective, our strong cash generation creates flexibility, enabling us to reinvest for growth, including M&A and return excess capital to shareholders. Over the remainder of the year, we'll continue to evaluate capital deployment opportunities anchored to our disciplined and balanced approach. For 2026, we are increasing our expectations for share repurchases to be towards the upper end of our $300 million to $350 million repurchase range. Our second quarter and year-to-date results demonstrate that Assurant continues to operate from a position of strength with momentum across each of our differentiated businesses. We are well positioned to deliver our 10th consecutive year of profitable growth, extending our proven track record of strong performance. As we execute against our increased financial objectives, we remain focused on investing in future growth opportunities while leveraging our strong capital position to create long-term value. With that, operator, please open the call for questions. Operator: [Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from Mark Hughes with Truist. Mark Hughes: Just a very broad question. You had spoken earlier this year and last year about the investments you're making in the new customer agreements. Those things were expected to ramp up. You've certainly seen that here in 2026 in the first half. How would you describe the pipeline and investments, your visibility as it pertains to 2027? Just sort of trying to understand, are we harvesting the fruits of that earlier momentum? Or is there a continued momentum under the surface? Keith Demmings: Yes. That's a great question. First of all, obviously, incredibly proud of what we've put up in the first half of the year. This is coming off the back of 3 years of double-digit growth in earnings and EPS and now having our second straight quarter of record earnings. Super proud of that result. It's really broad-based, too, when you look across all the businesses, Lifestyle, both Connected Living and Auto, Housing, even international is performing well. So I think from that perspective, we feel really good. Obviously in great shape this year to deliver our 10th year consecutive earnings growth. And I think we like to highlight the resiliency of the business. And clearly, you see our leadership position showing through the momentum, as you said, with clients and obviously excited to raise the guidance for the full year. As I think about the momentum broadly, you're right, we are certainly benefiting from the investments we made in '24 and '25. Those are now scaling. We're certainly optimizing the performance against many of those programs. So that's a big contributor to why things are performing so well in the first half year-over-year. I think we do have great momentum across the board. We've talked a lot about it. We had a great Nashville event, showcased some of the capabilities that we're building in mobile, helping demonstrate why we see great long-term opportunity for growth. We saw great growth in ESC, Financial Services. We're seeing auto inflect and then housing with Freedom Mortgage now giving us more power and scale over time. So I do think we'll continue to make investments. We've got lots of opportunities to do more with clients and certainly feel really good about our momentum heading into '27. Maybe, Keith, would you like to add anything? Keith Meier: Yes. I think the only thing I would add is we've announced 4 additional programs last quarter for Connected Living. So I think that gives us some good momentum as we continue on through this year. And then as Keith mentioned, we also have some nice momentum with a large client win in housing. So I think that good feeling that we had reaping the benefits of those investments, Mark, I think there's some good momentum still to come. Mark Hughes: Excellent. And then on Global Automotive, I think, Keith, you might have just used the inflection word around growth. You've talked about kind of international partnerships. Could you maybe give a little more detail on what's changed there? Why the greater optimism? Keith Demmings: Yes. I mean I think we've talked a lot about the work we've done over the last several years. Since 2022, we've put 26 rate increases in against a handful of client programs where we had some risk. So that is certainly benefiting our financial performance. And then we talk about momentum internationally and also, we think there's a great long-term opportunity with large dealers in the U.S. Our team is hyper focused on execution, very much in growth mode, trying to innovate and drive change in the market. But what else would you add, Keith? Keith Meier: No. I think we have been pleased with how auto is continuing to progress. We saw the growth in international coming out where we focus more on OEMs, and we also have dealerships there, but we feel good about that. And then we also see opportunities to gain additional share with national dealers in the U.S. as well. So we're pleased with the progress we're making since the inflection point last year and continue to want to grow that business. Operator: Our next question comes from Charlie Lederer with BMO. Charles Lederer: Okay. So on housing, congrats on the new client win. In the past, you've alluded to the growth in this segment being helped by the hard market in insurance, which is moderating or reversing to an extent now. Should we expect that to lead some of your lender-placed policyholders to return to traditional home insurance policies? Are you seeing any of that? And was the change in the gross written premium trend this quarter in that segment, is that affected by that? Or was that related to the dynamic you called out in your prepared remarks? Keith Demmings: Great. Maybe I'll start on the placement rate. I would say if you set aside the loan movement that we described, which was at a higher than normal placement rate, the underlying placement rate is very stable sequentially. It's actually still up year-over-year. So we're definitely seeing more moderation. We're not seeing the escalation of growth in placement rate as a result of the voluntary market challenges. But I'd say it's very stable when we look at it. It deviates across state, as you'd imagine. I think Florida, we're -- year-to-date, we're down in policies about 2%. Texas, California were up 1% or 2%. On balance, very steady and very stable. I think we feel really good about our outlook going forward. And then layer on top of that, obviously, 2.6 million loans that will build over the next 12 months in terms of policies, and that will give us a nice opportunity to continue to drive growth. But maybe Keith can share some thoughts as well. Keith Meier: Yes. And Charlie, you mentioned the gross written premium. That was due to the client that transferred a portion of their loan portfolio to another servicer. So that did affect the current quarter. But we feel good that the new client that we're putting on, that will more than compensate for that over the next 12 months. So we feel good about that continued momentum there. Charles Lederer: And then maybe switching over to Lifestyle or Connected Living. The EBITDA growth year-over-year comparisons do get tougher here in the back half. I appreciate you had all the 4 new announcements last quarter. I guess how should we think about that growth trend evolving as we head into the back half? Keith Demmings: Yes. And I think you've seen really good performance, in particular, in Connected Living with mobile. Our device protection subscribers are up 4 million year-over-year. You've seen a step change in devices serviced. Obviously, we've launched a lot of new programs around reverse logistics. Those 2 things are certainly benefiting, but we're also scaling across our client base as well. So I do feel really good about how we're positioned. Certainly, as we look forward, I expect within Lifestyle, we're talking about low double-digit EBITDA growth in 2026. I think Connected Living will be the bigger driver of the 2, but auto is certainly performing well. And on balance, we feel really good about how we're situated for the rest of the year and obviously, how that builds momentum into 2027. Operator: Our next question comes from Jeff Schmitt with William Blair. Jeffrey Schmitt: Another question on the lender-placed business. Again, good to see the win, loans tracked are increasing. Are there other deals in the works? I mean, maybe if you could talk about your pipeline there, what that looks like? And just in general, are there a lot of opportunities in that market? I mean you have a high market share. So just curious. Keith Demmings: Yes, it's sort of fascinating, right, because we do have a great market position, but I think that's allowed us to leverage our scale to deeply invest in our capabilities. And I feel like we've got a great pipeline of long-term opportunities for growth because we're so intensely focused on scaling and investing in this area. I think when you see announcements like a couple of years ago, bringing on Bank of America, now Freedom Mortgage, every time we launch another major client, we raise the bar in terms of what we deliver, the capabilities that we're investing in, how we're leveraging technology. So I think as time goes on, our offerings become richer and more robust, and I think our opportunity for growth is better today than it was 3 years ago because of the investments we're making. Jeffrey Schmitt: Okay. And then you continue to make good progress on the reverse logistics partnership that's driving high fee growth in Global Lifestyle. Just curious how much more capacity do you have in the Nashville device care center? And then maybe if you could just talk about the margins on that business versus your kind of core device protection business. Keith Meier: Yes. So Jeff, I would first say we've got device care centers in Nashville and also multiple centers in Texas as well. And we have plenty of room to expand and take on more business in those. So that is definitely not a gating item for us. And then in terms of the contributions, we certainly were pleased with the contributions as we mature these programs in the second quarter. The device protection programs are the drivers for our economics, but it's certainly a nice complementary element and really just allows us to deliver unique value for the whole device life cycle ecosystem. Keith Demmings: Yes. And one other thought is, as we operate very much as a global company, which is particularly true across lifestyle, we're building out and have infrastructure in most of our key markets in terms of device care centers, whether it's Canada, Japan, Europe, Australia, et cetera. So we feel really good that we're trying to build our ecosystem of services consistently around the world to create better long-term growth opportunities. Operator: [Operator Instructions] Our next question comes from Tommy McJoynt with KBW. Thomas Mcjoynt-Griffith: Starting off on the Connected Living side, adjusted EBITDA in the first half was up almost 20% even after excluding the one-timers. Is there any correlation there to the global chip and memory shortage and your service of protecting and processing devices being able to generate outsized margins around that? Or is this strength really separate from that cycle and just a more structural and sustainable improvement? Keith Meier: Yes. So in terms of the quarter, I would say the biggest drivers are contributions across our supply chain business that we've talked about. Also the growth in our protection programs. And we have seen the maturing of our financial services business that have been contributing as well. So I think we've gotten contributions across the board there in the U.S. and then international is delivering too. So I think that's the biggest driver, Tommy, of the second quarter. And then I think in general, the memory costs and new device prices, I think those are probably, call it, neutral to positive for us over the longer term. And there's lots of reasons for that. But a couple of highlights is, one, when devices are more expensive, people tend to want to protect them more. So that's usually a positive element for us. And then also, as the new phones are more expensive, it also allows us to take advantage of our certified pre-owned devices and be able to also fill a need for less expensive devices. So those are a couple of examples where I think it should be a good dynamic for us as those memory costs evolve. Thomas Mcjoynt-Griffith: Got it. And then switching over to the capital side and the priorities around that. When we look at the amount of dividends that you're getting from your subs up to the holdco and we think about the allocation of capital to interest and to paying the quarterly dividend, there's still a ton of excess capital across available for buybacks and M&A. Any interest in thinking about increasing your buybacks going, kind of, surpassing that $350 million you're targeting for this year? And then conversely, what are you guys looking at on the M&A front? Are there any pockets you're looking to fill in your processes? Or what can you say about that? Keith Meier: Yes. First of all, I would say, I appreciate you highlighting the great cash flow generation that we have in our businesses. We do have $911 million of liquidity at our holding company today. We did raise our repurchase outlook to the upper end of our $300 million to $350 million range. But overall, we really like the position we're in to have the flexibility to be able to make organic and M&A investments, as you touched on, Tommy. We always have a pipeline of opportunities that we're looking at, and we want to make sure we are in a strong position to play offense and be able to invest for the long-term future. So we really like the position we're in currently, and we'll continue to make sure that we're being disciplined in terms of the capital allocation long term. Operator: Our next question comes from Paul Newsome with Piper Sandler. Jon Paul Newsome: I was hoping you could touch on your most recent thoughts and what you're seeing from a claims inflation perspective in both the auto and the home business sort of ex cats. Not a ton of movement, but we've seen some inflation some -- in the CPI in some key areas that would affect your businesses. So curious as what your book is seeing. Keith Meier: Yes. I think, Paul, in terms of auto, it's been pretty stable actually quarter-over-quarter in terms of the CPI and what we're seeing specifically for our business. And then in housing, we see ourselves well positioned in terms of inflation there. We're not seeing it be an impact, and you saw that in our strong loss ratios this quarter. So I'd say it's been very manageable to this point. But I think on both fronts, we feel okay about inflation at the moment. And we've got lots of levers, as we've talked about in terms of how our businesses are resilient in different macroeconomic times. Keith Demmings: Yes. And I think we've done a really good job certainly on the auto side, working with partners to manage claims costs to be as efficient as we can, but also put rate in as necessary, and that's a big mitigator to any inflation. And then I think as you know, on the housing side, we've got our automatic inflation guard feature. If you look at average insured values, they're up 5% year-over-year. We continue to see that as we move forward. So that's a nice offset to certainly inflationary pressure. And then as we look at the quarter, certainly, Q2 was favorable from a loss ratio perspective for housing. But year-to-date, it's maybe a 100 basis point delta in the first half versus first half last year. So it's not a huge driver of our overall outperformance. Jon Paul Newsome: Maybe a quick follow-up. Just on the auto piece, some disagree in the industry about what's going on with frequency. Obviously, you're more indirect, but have you seen changes in even small ones and frequency of late? Keith Meier: I wouldn't say anything significant. I think in general, we're making the progress on our claims experience, both for the vehicle service contracts and our GAP program. So nothing that I would call out, Paul. Operator: Our last question comes from Mark Hughes with Truist. Mark Hughes: In the lender-placed business, you talked about not as much ramp in the current environment as you might have seen in earlier periods, still up in certain markets, down in Florida. How are you seeing that play out in terms of the duration of the policies as they come on board, I think one of the benefits you've seen is the lengthening of that duration. Is that reversing itself? Or are you just seeing fewer -- a deceleration in the pace of new loans coming into the placement rate? Keith Demmings: Yes. I wouldn't say we've seen a meaningful change in the duration. We've certainly seen the duration extend over the last couple of years. I'd say it's holding relatively steady. Mark Hughes: Okay. And then on the home warranty side, how productive has that brokerage relationship been? Is it meeting your expectations? Keith Demmings: Yes. I mean, for sure, as far as -- if you want to launch a new program with a partner, they've been a fantastic client to partner with, I think, like I've talked about before, very aligned to the vision around serving consumers, leveraging technology, building the agent experience. A lot of work going on to continue to integrate and refine how we go to market, how we optimize. But yes, super excited, and I still feel very convicted about the long-term growth opportunity, and we're excited to continue to drive momentum forward. All right. I think that was the last question. So just a couple of sign-off comments. First of all, super proud of where we sit year-to-date, looking forward very much to executing on the revised and increased outlook for 2026 to deliver our 10th year of growth. Thanks, everybody, for your time and look forward to speaking to you again next quarter. Have a great day. Operator: Thank you. This concludes today's teleconference. Please disconnect your lines at this time, and have a wonderful day. Before you buy stock in Assurant, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Assurant wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $411,427!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,335,252!* Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 965% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 215% for the S&P 500. Don't miss the latest top 10 list, available with Stock Advisor, and join an investing community built by individual investors for individual investors. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of August 11, 2026. This article is a transcript of this conference call produced for The Motley Fool. While we strive for our Foolish Best, there may be errors, omissions, or inaccuracies in this transcript. As with all our articles, The Motley Fool does not assume any responsibility for your use of this content, and we strongly encourage you to do your own research, including listening to the call yourself and reading the company's SEC filings. Please see our Terms and Conditions for additional details, including our Obligatory Capitalized Disclaimers of Liability. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Assurant (AIZ) Q2 2026 Earnings Call Transcript was originally published by The Motley Fool

Assurant’s second quarter results received a positive market response, with management citing robust growth across its key businesses as the main driver. CEO Keith Demmings highlighted that the company’s Global Lifestyle and Global Housing segments delivered strong earnings, underpinned by profitable growth in mobile device protection, reverse logistics, and automotive partnerships. The addition of new client programs and disciplined execution in operational efficiency contributed to improved operating margins. Management pointed specifically to increased device protection subscribers and the expansion of reverse logistics capabilities as important contributors to the quarter’s performance. Is now the time to buy AIZ? Find out in our full research report (it’s free). Revenue: $3.46 billion vs analyst estimates of $3.43 billion (9% year-on-year growth, 0.9% beat) Adjusted EPS: $6.41 vs analyst estimates of $5.18 (23.7% beat) Adjusted EBITDA: $479.2 million vs analyst estimates of $433.3 million (13.8% margin, 10.6% beat) Operating Margin: 10.9%, up from 9.1% in the same quarter last year Market Capitalization: $14.17 billion While we enjoy listening to the management’s commentary, our favorite part of earnings calls is the analyst questions. Those are unscripted and can often highlight topics that management teams would rather avoid or topics where the answer is complicated. Here is what has caught our attention. Mark Hughes (Truist): Asked about the sustainability of momentum from new client investments. CEO Keith Demmings emphasized the scalability of recent wins and ongoing investments for continued growth into 2027. Charles Lederer (BMO): Inquired if moderating insurance markets would cause lender-placed clients to revert to traditional policies. Demmings explained that placement rates remain stable and new client additions should support growth. Jeffrey Schmitt (William Blair): Questioned the growth pipeline and capacity in reverse logistics. CFO Keith Meier noted ample expansion room in device care centers and highlighted complementary benefits to core device protection. Thomas Mcjoynt-Griffith (KBW): Asked about the impact of global chip shortages on margins. Meier responded that higher device values encourage protection adoption and support both device protection and certified pre-owned device programs. Jon Paul Newsome (Piper Sandler): Sought insight on claims inflation trends. Meier reported manageable inflation in both auto and housing, citing effective cost management and inflation guard features as mitigants. In the quarters ahead, the StockStory team will be watching (1) the ramp-up and performance of newly added client programs in both Connected Living and Housing, (2) evidence that technology investments in data and automation translate to higher client retention and operational efficiency, and (3) the company’s ability to balance capital deployment between share buybacks, acquisitions, and organic investments. Progress in expanding international partnerships and entering adjacent markets will also be key signposts. Assurant currently trades at $290.65, up from $281.31 just before the earnings. At this price, is it a buy or sell? Find out in our full research report (it’s free for active Edge members). WHILE YOU’RE HERE: Top 9 Market-Beating Stocks. The best stocks don’t just beat the market once. They do it again. And again. Robust revenue growth, rising free cash flow, returns on capital that leave their competition in the dust. The market has already rewarded these businesses. But our AI platform says the party isn’t over. Find out which 9 stocks made the cut this week — FREE. Get Our Top 9 Market-Beating Stocks for Free HERE. Stocks that have made our list include now familiar names such as Nvidia (+1,460% between June 2020 and June 2025) as well as under-the-radar businesses like the once-micro-cap company Tecnoglass (+1,552% between June 2020 and June 2025). Find your next big winner with StockStory today.

Track your investments for FREE with Simply Wall St, the portfolio command center trusted by over 7 million individual investors worldwide. Assurant (AIZ) drew attention after reporting record second quarter 2026 earnings and raising its full-year outlook, as Global Lifestyle, Global Housing and Connected Living contributed to higher revenue and profitability. See our latest analysis for Assurant. At a latest share price of $296.40, Assurant has seen a 90 day share price return of 23.67% and a year to date share price return of 24.68%, while the 1 year total shareholder return of 49.10% and 3 year total shareholder return of 120.36% reflect strong momentum around record earnings, buybacks and the upgraded 2026 outlook. If Assurant's recent results have you thinking about other opportunities, this could be a good moment to widen your search with the 20 top founder-led companies After a near 50% 1 year return and a fresh record quarter, Assurant still trades at roughly a 4% discount to the average analyst target and a much wider discount to some intrinsic value estimates. Is the market’s caution deserved? The most followed narrative for Assurant pegs fair value at $300.50, only slightly above the latest $296.40 close. This keeps the spotlight firmly on the underlying growth story rather than any big pricing gap. Read the complete narrative. Want to see what sits behind that Lifestyle growth story? The narrative focuses on steady revenue expansion, firm margins and a specific earnings path that has to line up for this fair value to hold. Result: Fair Value of $300.50 (UNDERVALUED) Have a read of the narrative in full and understand what's behind the forecasts. However, Assurant's story could change if lender placed housing products face tighter regulation or if digital competitors erode pricing power in mobile and connected protection. Find out about the key risks to this Assurant narrative. The first narrative leans on discounted cash flows and suggests Assurant looks undervalued against an estimated fair value of $513.47. The market, however, is assigning a P/E of 13.9x, which is higher than both the US Insurance industry at 11.8x and a fair ratio estimate of 12.3x. That mix of apparent upside and richer earnings multiple raises a simple question: Is the bigger risk now overpaying for quality, or underestimating further upside if the DCF case holds up? To see how those earnings based comparisons stack up in more detail, including how peers are priced, take a closer look at the See what the numbers say about this price — find out in our valuation breakdown. Feeling uncertain about whether Assurant’s current pricing reflects its full story or its risks more clearly? Act while the latest figures are fresh in mind and compare both sides of the debate with the 3 key rewards and 1 important warning sign If you have followed Assurant this far, do not stop your research here. The next opportunity you are looking for could already be on your radar. Target income potential by scanning companies with resilient payouts using the 9 dividend fortresses. Spot potential value opportunities before they gain wider attention through the screener containing 19 high quality undiscovered gems. Reduce downside risk by focusing on companies that score well for financial strength with the solid balance sheet and fundamentals stocks screener (49 results). This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Companies discussed in this article include AIZ. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email [email protected]

Interested in Assurant, Inc.? Here are five stocks we like better. Assurant reported a second consecutive quarter of record earnings, with first-half adjusted EBITDA up 12% and adjusted EPS up 14%, excluding catastrophes. Global Lifestyle led growth with adjusted EBITDA up 21%, driven primarily by Connected Living. Global Housing adjusted EBITDA rose 18% excluding catastrophes, benefiting from lower claims, reduced reinsurance costs and specialty-products growth. The new Freedom Mortgage relationship increased tracked loans by 9% to more than 34 million. Management raised its 2026 outlook to mid-single-digit adjusted EBITDA and EPS growth excluding catastrophes, while targeting roughly 10% underlying growth. Share repurchases are now expected at the upper end of the $300 million-$350 million range. Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) reported a second consecutive quarter of record earnings in the second quarter of 2026, supported by growth in its Global Lifestyle and Global Housing businesses. Management raised its full-year outlook, citing program expansion, improving operating performance and continued capital returns. President and Chief Executive Officer Keith Demmings said adjusted EBITDA and adjusted earnings per share each grew at high-teen rates during the quarter excluding reportable catastrophes. For the first half of 2026, adjusted EBITDA increased 12% and adjusted EPS rose 14%, also excluding catastrophes. → SpaceX’s First Earnings Report Could Decide Whether Shorts or Bulls Have Control “In a dynamic operating environment, Assurant continues to deliver as we balance near-term execution with long-term investments, including within data, automation, and AI,” Demmings said. He said those investments are intended to improve decision-making, operating speed and customer support. Global Lifestyle adjusted EBITDA increased 21% from a year earlier in the second quarter, or $43 million, according to Chief Financial Officer Keith Meier. Connected Living was the principal contributor, with adjusted EBITDA rising 29%, or $39 million. → 3 Drone Stocks That Should Soar After the Summer Slump Connected Living results included approximately $10 million of non-run-rate benefits, including a client adjustment in extended service contracts and an international tax benefit in mobile. Excluding those items, Connected Living adjusted EBITDA grew 22%, Meier said. The business benefited from mobile-device protection subscriber growth, supply-chain services and financial-services program optimization. Assurant added more than 4 million protected devices across U.S. and international partnerships over the past year. Its supply-chain operations, including reverse logistics, trade-ins, upgrades and claims fulfillment, serviced more than 7 million devices during the quarter, up approximately 1.8 million from a year earlier. → The Bitcoin Comeback May Already Be Underway—2 ETFs for Exposure Demmings said the company expanded its relationship with T-Mobile, including the migration of U.S. Cellular’s in-force business and the launch of a reverse-logistics program through a co-located facility. He also cited program wins and optimization efforts involving Telstra, Best Buy and Chase Card Services. Global Automotive adjusted EBITDA rose 6%, or $4 million, as the company expanded global partnerships, particularly in Latin America and Europe. Meier said results also reflected improving loss experience. Year-to-date, Global Automotive adjusted EBITDA increased 15%. During the question-and-answer session, Demmings said Assurant has implemented 26 rate increases since 2022 across a limited number of client programs where it had risk exposure. He said those actions are contributing to financial performance, alongside international expansion and opportunities with larger U.S. dealers. Global Housing generated second-quarter adjusted EBITDA of $275 million, including $12 million of reportable catastrophes. Excluding catastrophes, adjusted EBITDA was $287 million, up $43 million, or 18%, from the prior-year period. Meier said the segment benefited from a lower-than-typical non-catastrophe loss ratio of about 35%, excluding prior-period reserve development. The favorable result was driven by fewer weather events and reduced claims frequency during the quarter. On a year-to-date basis, the non-catastrophe loss ratio was relatively consistent with 2025, he said. Lower catastrophe reinsurance costs following the April 1 placement of the company’s 2026 program, specialty-products growth and higher average lender-placed premiums also aided results. These gains were partly offset by $12 million less favorable prior-period reserve development compared with the prior year. Assurant began providing lender-placed insurance services to Freedom Mortgage during the second quarter. Freedom Mortgage has approximately 2.6 million loans, according to management. Assurant’s total tracked loans increased 9% to more than 34 million, driven by the new relationship. The company’s lender-placed insurance placement rate was 2.02% in the quarter, roughly flat from a year earlier but down sequentially. Management said the sequential decline was entirely due to a client transferring a portion of its loan portfolio to a servicer that is not an Assurant client; the transferred loans had a higher-than-average placement rate. Demmings said that excluding this portfolio movement, the underlying placement rate remained stable and was still higher year over year. He said policy volume associated with the Freedom Mortgage program is expected to ramp over the next 12 months. Within renters insurance, Assurant’s Cover360 platform added a new partner during the quarter. The company now serves seven of the 10 largest property management companies, Demmings said. Assurant increased its 2026 outlook and now expects full-year adjusted EBITDA and adjusted EPS to grow at a mid-single-digit rate excluding catastrophes, despite an expected $71 million reduction in favorable prior-year reserve development. The company expects approximately 10% underlying growth in both measures when excluding the impact of prior-year reserve development and catastrophes. Global Lifestyle is expected to post low-double-digit earnings growth for the year, while Global Housing is expected to grow modestly excluding catastrophes. Management said the Housing outlook would reflect solid underlying growth absent lower favorable reserve development. At quarter-end, Assurant had $911 million in holding-company liquidity. It returned $123 million to shareholders during the second quarter, including $75 million in share repurchases and $48 million in dividends. Through July 31, the company had repurchased $230 million of stock year to date. Meier said Assurant now expects 2026 repurchases to be toward the upper end of its previously stated $300 million to $350 million range. Management said it also intends to retain flexibility for organic investment and potential mergers and acquisitions. Demmings said the company sees continued momentum heading into 2027, as programs launched and investments made in 2024 and 2025 continue to scale. “We’re very well-positioned to deliver our 10th consecutive year of profitable growth,” he said. Assurant, Inc is a global provider of risk management products and services, specializing in the housing and lifestyle markets. The company offers insurance and related products designed to help consumers protect their homes, personal belongings, and electronic devices. Its core offerings include renters insurance, manufactured housing finance, flood insurance, mobile device protection plans, and extended service contracts for appliances and electronics. Within its Global Housing segment, Assurant partners with mortgage lenders, financial institutions and government agencies to deliver specialty insurance and risk mitigation services. This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to [email protected]. The article "Assurant Q2 Earnings Call Highlights" was originally published by MarketBeat. 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Our analysts just identified a stock with the potential to be the next Nvidia. Tell us how you invest and we'll show you why it's our #1 pick. Tap here. Achieved record second-quarter earnings with high-teens growth in adjusted EBITDA and EPS, excluding catastrophes, positioning the company to deliver its 10th consecutive year of profitable growth. Global Lifestyle performance was bolstered by a 24% year-to-date increase in Connected Living earnings, driven by the expansion of mobile supply chain services and optimization of recently added programs. The company is evolving from a protection provider to an end-to-end business partner, leveraging integrated ecosystems of technology, data, and AI to solve complex client challenges at scale. Global Housing growth was supported by a new partnership with Freedom Mortgage, adding approximately 2.6 million loans to the lender-placed insurance portfolio. Management attributes the durability of the business model to a shift toward embedded services and protection partnerships that generate recurring, fee-based revenue streams less dependent on traditional P&C cycles. Operational excellence in Global Automotive, including 26 rate increases since 2022 and improved loss experience, has led to a 15% year-to-date growth in adjusted EBITDA. Increased full-year 2026 outlook now expects mid-single-digit growth in adjusted EBITDA and EPS, overcoming $71 million in lower favorable prior-year reserve development. Excluding the impact of prior-year reserve development, underlying growth for both EBITDA and EPS is projected at approximately 10% for the full year. Global Lifestyle is expected to lead growth with low double-digit increases, supported by the continued maturation of mobile and reverse logistics programs. Capital allocation strategy prioritizes share repurchases at the upper end of the $300 million to $350 million range while maintaining flexibility for M&A and organic investments. Housing segment growth assumes a ramp-up of policies from the Freedom Mortgage partnership over the next 12 months to offset recent loan portfolio transfers. Connected Living results included approximately $10 million in non-run rate benefits from a client adjustment in extended service contracts and an international tax benefit. Global Housing results were impacted by $12 million in lower favorable prior-period reserve development compared to the previous year. A client transferred a portion of their loan portfolio to a non-Assurant servicer, causing a sequential decline in the quarterly placement rate to 2.02%. Inflation guard mechanisms in the housing business, showing a 5% year-over-year increase in average insured values, serve as a primary mitigator against claims inflation. One stock. Nvidia-level potential. 30M+ investors trust Moby to find it first. Get the pick. Tap here. Management confirmed that current performance is the result of scaling investments made in 2024 and 2025, with significant momentum continuing in mobile, auto, and housing. The pipeline remains robust with four new Connected Living programs announced last quarter and the Freedom Mortgage win providing long-term scale. Underlying placement rates remain stable sequentially and are up year-over-year, though the rapid escalation seen during the peak of voluntary market challenges has moderated. Geographic variance exists, with policy counts down 2% in Florida but up 1% to 2% in Texas and California. Assurant has significant capacity to expand in its Nashville and Texas device care centers and is building similar infrastructure in key international markets like Japan and Europe. While device protection programs remain the primary economic driver, supply chain services provide a critical complementary element that matures over time to improve margins. Auto claims inflation has remained stable, mitigated by aggressive rate actions and efficient claims management. Housing loss ratios remain strong, with the 'inflation guard' feature providing a natural offset to rising property values and repair costs.

Prudential Financial, Inc. PRU reported second-quarter 2026 adjusted operating income of $4.08 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3.47 by 17.6%. The bottom line increased 14% year over year.Total revenues rose 4.8% to $14.15 billion and matched the consensus estimate. Results benefited from stronger PGIM and International Businesses earnings, while assets under management increased 3.9% to $1.64 trillion. Prudential Financial, Inc. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Prudential Financial, Inc. Quote Premiums decreased 1.6% year over year to $6.33 billion. However, policy charges and fee income increased 6.4% to $1.14 billion.Net investment income rose 12% year over year to $5.15 billion, while asset management fees, commissions and other income increased 9.2% year over year to $1.54 billion. These gains helped adjusted operating income before taxes increase 9.7% year over year to $1.83 billion. PGIM revenues increased 6.1% year over year to $1.11 billion. Adjusted operating income surged 28.4% year over year to $294 million, reflecting higher asset management fees driven by equity market appreciation and strong investment performance. The metric beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 12.6%. The segment also benefited from higher net service, distribution and other revenues. These gains were partially offset by the impact of net outflows and higher interest rates.PGIM assets under management increased 4% to $1.49 trillion, primarily driven by equity market appreciation and strong investment performance. Total net inflows were $1.6 billion, as third-party inflows of $4.6 billion more than offset affiliated outflows of $3 billion. U.S. Businesses generated adjusted operating income of $957 million, up from $955 million a year ago. A favorable impact from the annual assumption update offset higher expenses and less favorable underwriting.Retirement adjusted operating income declined slightly to $392 million from $397 million. Higher expenses and unfavorable mortality and run-off experience in the pension risk transfer block outweighed improved net investment spread results.Retirement account values increased 4.2% year over year to $362.73 billion. Quarterly sales totaled $6.8 billion, including $3.6 billion of retail annuity sales, supported by demand for registered index-linked annuity products. Group Insurance adjusted operating income increased 24% year over year to a record $155 million. The metric beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 31.4%. The increase reflected a favorable assumption update, better life underwriting from favorable mortality and higher spread income, partly offset by growth-related expenses.Year-to-date Group Insurance sales climbed 25.6% to $599 million. Growth was driven by disability products, including supplemental health offerings and continued momentum in the Premier middle-market segment.Individual Life adjusted operating income more than doubled to $176 million from $82 million. The metric beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 12.1%. More favorable assumption updates, improved underwriting and higher spread income supported the increase.Second-quarter Individual Life sales rose 9.2% year over year to a record $237 million, primarily due to sustained demand for variable accumulation products. U.S. Legacy Products adjusted operating income declined 33.3% year over year to $234 million. The metric missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 6.4%. The decrease reflected a less favorable assumption update, weaker guaranteed universal life underwriting and lower fee income from the continued run-off of traditional variable annuities.Legacy annuity account values decreased 7.1% year over year to $76.09 billion. Net outflows from the run-off block more than offset the benefit of market appreciation.Total benefits and expenses increased 4.1% year over year to $12.33 billion. Operating expenses rose 6.1% year over year to $1.73 billion, while interest credited to policyholders’ account balances increased 21.6% year over year to $1.38 billion. International Businesses adjusted operating income increased 12.4% year over year to $855 million. Results benefited from higher spread income, a favorable assumption update, increased joint venture earnings and continued business growth in Brazil. The metric beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 20.8%. These gains were partly offset by higher expenses and less favorable underwriting linked to Prudential of Japan’s voluntary sales suspension. Constant-dollar sales fell 32.5% year over year to $361 million, primarily due to the suspension.Corporate and Other recorded an adjusted operating loss of $279 million compared with the year-ago loss of $280 million. Prudential Financial now expects the segment’s full-year 2026 loss to total $1.55 billion. Parent company highly liquid assets totaled $4.2 billion, exceeding the company’s target of more than $3 billion. Total assets increased 3.2% year over year to $783.55 billion.Adjusted book value per share increased 4.7% year over year to $100.91. Adjusted operating return on equity expanded 150 basis points to 16.4%.Prudential Financial returned $743 million to shareholders during the quarter, including $250 million through share repurchases and $493 million in dividends. The quarterly dividend was $1.40 per share. Prudential Financial currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. Assurant, Inc. AIZ reported second-quarter 2026 adjusted earnings of $6.41 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $5.16 by 24.2%. The bottom line increased 25.7% year over year. Revenues rose 9.4% to $3.46 billion and surpassed the consensus estimate of $3.40 billion by 1.8%. Net earned premiums increased 6.9% year over year to $2.77 billion. The figure was higher than our estimate of $2.71 billion. Fees and other income climbed 19.6% year over year to $554.6 million, reflecting continued expansion across the company’s protection and service programs. The figure was higher than our estimate of $500.3 million. Net investment income advanced 10.6% year over year to $142.4 million. The figure was lower than our estimate of $153.1 million. Total segment net earned premiums, fees and other income grew 8.9% to $3.32 billion, supported by gains in both operating segments.Everest Group, Ltd. EG reported second-quarter 2026 operating earnings of $14.85 per share, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 1.8%. The bottom line declined 14.5% year over year. Operating revenues of $3.96 billion decreased 11.8% year over year and missed the consensus estimate by 2.9%. Gross written premiums declined 19.4% year over year to $3.77 billion. Our estimate was $3.8 billion. Net premiums earned fell 12.6% to $3.49 billion, reflecting lower business volumes. Our estimate was $3.6 billion.Total claims and expenses fell 10.8% year over year to $3.28 billion. Our estimate was $3.4 billion. Incurred losses and loss-adjustment expenses declined 12.2%, while commission, brokerage, taxes and fees decreased 7.5%. Other underwriting expenses fell 11.4%.Principal Financial Group, Inc.’s PFG second-quarter 2026 operating earnings of $2.50 per share beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 7.3%. The bottom line increased 16% year over year. Revenues rose 6.4% year over year to $3.99 billion, which missed the consensus mark of $4.09 billion by 2.4%. Total expenses increased 7.6% year over year to $3.41 billion. Benefits, claims and settlement expenses rose 8.3% to $1.99 billion, while operating expenses increased 8.1% to $1.40 billion.Non-GAAP operating earnings climbed 12% to $547 million. Excluding significant variances, operating earnings advanced 13% to $528.7 million. Net income attributable to PFG declined 1% to $403.4 million. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Prudential Financial, Inc. (PRU) : Free Stock Analysis Report Assurant, Inc. (AIZ) : Free Stock Analysis Report Principal Financial Group, Inc. (PFG) : Free Stock Analysis Report Everest Group, Ltd. (EG) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com). Zacks Investment Research

This article first appeared on GuruFocus. Adjusted EBITDA Growth: Increased 18% in Q2 2026, excluding reportable catastrophes. Adjusted EPS Growth: Increased 19% in Q2 2026, excluding reportable catastrophes. Global Lifestyle Adjusted EBITDA: Increased 21% (or $43 million) in Q2 2026. Connected Living Adjusted EBITDA: Increased 29% (or $39 million) in Q2 2026; normalized for non-run rate items, increased 22%. Global Automotive Adjusted EBITDA: Increased 6% (or $4 million) in Q2 2026. Global Housing Adjusted EBITDA: $275 million in Q2 2026, including $12 million of reportable catastrophes; excluding cats, $287 million, an increase of 18%. Global Housing Non-Cat Loss Ratio: Approximately 35% in Q2 2026, excluding prior period reserve development. Tracked Loans: Grew 9% to over 34 million loans in Q2 2026. Devices Serviced: Over 7 million devices in Q2 2026, an increase of approximately 1.8 million year-over-year. Subscriber Growth: Added over 4 million devices protected across US and international partnerships in the last year. Share Repurchases: $75 million in Q2 2026; $230 million year-to-date through July 31, 2026. Dividends: $48 million returned to shareholders in Q2 2026. Liquidity Position: $911 million at quarter end. Full-Year 2026 Outlook: Expects mid-single-digit growth in adjusted EBITDA and adjusted EPS, excluding cats; underlying growth of approximately 10% excluding prior year reserve development. Warning! GuruFocus has detected 6 Warning Signs with BSP:PCAR3. Is AIZ fairly valued? Test your thesis with our free DCF calculator. Release Date: August 05, 2026 For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript. Record second-quarter 2026 results with adjusted EBITDA and EPS growth of 18% and 19%, respectively, excluding reportable catastrophes, marking the second consecutive quarter of record earnings. Global Lifestyle segment delivered strong performance with adjusted EBITDA up 21% in Q2, driven by 29% growth in Connected Living, including a 22% increase when normalized for non-run rate items. Connected Living added over 4 million new protected devices year-over-year and serviced 7 million devices in Q2, up 1.8 million, reflecting strong subscriber growth and expansion of reverse logistics programs. Global Housing secured a new lender-placed partnership with Freedom Mortgage, a top 10 U.S. mortgage servicer with 2.6 million loans, enhancing market position and supporting future growth. Company raised full-year 2026 outlook, now expecting mid-single-digit adjusted EBITDA and EPS growth (excluding cats), with underlying growth of approximately 10% when excluding prior year reserve development. Strong capital position with $911 million in liquidity, allowing for increased share repurchases to the upper end of the $300-$350 million range, with $230 million already repurchased year-to-date. Global Housing results were impacted by $12 million of reportable catastrophes in Q2, and the non-cat loss ratio benefited from lower-than-typical weather events, which may not be sustainable. Lender-placed placement rate declined sequentially to 2.02% due to a client transferring a portion of their loan portfolio to a non-Assurant servicer, affecting gross written premium in the quarter. Full-year 2026 outlook includes $71 million of lower favorable prior year reserve development compared to 2025, which will pressure earnings growth. Connected Living growth included $10 million in non-run rate benefits from a client adjustment and an international tax benefit, which may not recur in future periods. Global Housing's year-to-date non-cat loss ratio is only relatively consistent with 2025, and the favorable Q2 loss ratio was partly due to reduced claims frequency from fewer weather events, indicating potential volatility. The company faces tougher year-over-year comparisons in the back half of 2026, particularly in Connected Living, which may moderate growth rates. Q: How should we think about the growth trend in Connected Living evolving as we head into the back half of the year, given tougher year-over-year comparisons?A: Keith Demmings (CEO) stated that the company feels very good about its positioning, citing strong performance drivers such as a year-over-year increase of 4 million device protection subscribers, a step change in devices serviced, and the scaling of new reverse logistics programs. He expects Global Lifestyle to deliver low double-digit EBITDA growth in 2026, with Connected Living being the larger driver of the two segments. Q: Can you provide more detail on the momentum and pipeline for 2027, and whether the current results are from harvesting earlier investments or if there is continued momentum under the surface?A: Keith Demmings (CEO) confirmed that the company is benefiting from investments made in 2024 and 2025, which are now scaling and optimizing. He highlighted broad-based momentum across all businesses, including Connected Living, Auto, and Housing, and expressed confidence in the momentum heading into 2027. Keith Meier (COO) added that four new programs were announced last quarter for Connected Living and there is a large client win in housing, providing good momentum for the future. Q: With the hard market in insurance moderating, should we expect lender-placed policyholders to return to traditional home insurance policies, and was the change in gross written premium affected by this?A: Keith Demmings (CEO) explained that the underlying placement rate is very stable sequentially and still up year-over-year, with moderation rather than escalation. He noted that Florida policies are down about 2% year-to-date, while Texas and California are up 1% to 2%. Keith Meier (COO) clarified that the change in gross written premium was due to a client transferring a portion of their loan portfolio to another servicer, but new clients will more than compensate for this over the next 12 months. Q: Are there other deals in the works for the lender-placed business, and what does the pipeline look like given the high market share?A: Keith Demmings (CEO) stated that the company has a great pipeline of long-term opportunities for growth due to intense focus on scaling and investing in this area. He noted that each major client launch, such as Bank of America and Freedom Mortgage, raises the bar in terms of capabilities and technology, making the offerings richer and more robust over time. Q: How much more capacity do you have in the Nashville device care center, and how do the margins on the reverse logistics business compare to core device protection?A: Keith Meier (COO) said the company has device care centers in Nashville and multiple centers in Texas with plenty of room to expand. He noted that device protection programs are the main economic drivers, but the reverse logistics business is a nice complementary element that allows the company to deliver unique value across the device life cycle ecosystem. Keith Demmings (CEO) added that the company is building out infrastructure in key markets globally to create better long-term growth opportunities. Q: Is the strength in Connected Living correlated to the global chip and memory shortage, or is it a more structural and sustainable improvement?A: Keith Meier (COO) attributed the quarter's performance to contributions from the supply chain business, growth in protection programs, and the maturing financial services business. He noted that memory costs and new device prices are neutral to positive for the company long-term, as more expensive devices tend to increase protection demand and allow the company to leverage its certified preowned device offerings. Q: Given the strong cash generation, is there any interest in increasing buybacks beyond the $350 million target, and what are you looking at on the M&A front?A: Keith Meier (COO) highlighted the company's $911 million liquidity position and raised the repurchase outlook to the upper end of the $300 million to $350 million range. He emphasized the company's flexibility to make organic and M&A investments, with a disciplined approach to capital allocation and a pipeline of opportunities to play offense for long-term growth. Q: What are your most recent thoughts on claims inflation in both the auto and home businesses, excluding cats?A: Keith Meier (COO) stated that auto claims inflation has been stable quarter-over-quarter, and housing is well positioned with no significant impact, as evidenced by strong loss ratios. Keith Demmings (CEO) added that the company has levers to manage claims costs, including rate increases in auto and an automatic inflation guard feature in housing, with average insured values up 5% year-over-year. Q: In the lender-placed business, are you seeing changes in the duration of policies as they come on board, or just a deceleration in the pace of new loans?A: Keith Demmings (CEO) responded that there hasn't been a meaningful change in duration, which has held relatively steady after extending over the last couple of years. Q: How productive has the home warranty broker relationship been, and is it meeting expectations?A: Keith Demmings (CEO) expressed excitement about the partnership, noting the broker has been a fantastic client to work with, aligned on the vision around serving consumers and leveraging technology. He remains convicted about the long-term growth opportunity and is excited to continue driving momentum forward. For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript.