CNF - Cincinnati Financial Q4 earnings just miss consensus as premiums earned slip

Cincinnati Financial ( NYSE: CNF ) posted slightly weaker-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings Monday but rose from the prior quarter as the insurer's premiums earned drifted down, while its combined ratio improved.

The company said it was impacted by Winter Storm Elliott during Q4, with its property casualty and excess and surplus businesses recording $158M in losses as a result.

"Catastrophe losses contributed 7.8 points to the quarter, twice as high as our fourth-quarter five-year average," Chairman and CEO Steven J. Johnston pointed out.

Q4 adjusted operating income of $1.27 per share, falling short of the average analyst estimate of $1.28, rose from $0.73 in Q3 but slid from $1.97 a year ago.

Premiums earned came in at $1.87B compared with $1.88B in Q3 and $1.68B in Q4 2021.

Underwriting profit was $93M, up from a loss of $66M in the prior quarter and down from a profit of $256M a year before. Combined ratio of 94.9% vs. 103.9% in Q3 and 84.2% in Q4 2021.

Net premiums written of $1.69B decreased from $1.75B in Q3 and gained from $1.53B in the year-ago period.

Conference call on Feb. 7 at 11:00 a.m. ET.

Earlier, Cincinnati Financial Non-GAAP EPS of $1.27 misses by $0.01, revenue of $3.11B in-line.

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