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Why You Should Stay Invested in Voya Financial (VOYA) Stock

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Voya Financial, Inc. (VOYA - Free Report) has been gaining momentum, given higher surplus income, lower credited interest, higher investment income, growth across all product lines and strong financial standing.

Estimate Revision

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2022 and 2023 has moved 3.3% and 0.6% north, respectively, in the past 30 days, reflecting analysts’ optimism.

Earnings Surprise History

Voya Financial has a decent earnings surprise history. It beat estimates in three of the last four quarters and missed in the other one, the average beat being 10.81%.

Zacks Rank & Price Performance

Voya Financial currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). In the past year, the stock has lost 1.1% compared with the industry’s decline of 19.4%.

Zacks Investment Research
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Return on Equity (ROE)

Voya Financial’s trailing 12-month return on equity (ROE) was 8.9%, which expanded 140 basis points year over year. ROE reflects its efficiency in using its shareholders’ funds.

Business Tailwinds

Voya’s earnings are driven by solid performance across Wealth Solutions, Investment Management and Health Solutions. These businesses are higher-growth, higher-return, capital-light businesses, boasting a solid presence.

The Wealth Solutions segment has been witnessing significant growth on the back of favorable alternative and prepayment income, continued strength in underlying business results, higher surplus income as well as lower credited interest, higher investment income, full-service client net flows and favorable equity markets.

The Investment Management segment should gain from higher investment capital returns owing to overall market performance and higher fee revenues, driven by higher average equity markets and positive net flows.

Voya Financial has been taking strategic steps to ramp up growth in its Investment Management segment. In August 2022, Voya Financial inked a deal to acquire Czech Asset Management to build on Voya IM’s continued growth and expand its private and alternative capabilities.

The Health Solutions segment of VOYA is likely to benefit from growth across all product lines, strong alternative and prepayment income, growth of the Stop Loss and Voluntary blocks of business, and higher alternative asset income.

Voya Financial’s capital levels remain strong and above targets. VOYA exited the quarter with excess capital of $0.7 billion, which is above the estimated statutory surplus in excess of a 375% combined risk-based capital ratio.

As of Jun 30, 2022, VOYA had $271 million remaining under a share repurchase program. On Apr 28, 2022, the company’s board provided its most recent share repurchase authorization, increasing the aggregate amount of the common stock authorized for repurchase by $500 million. The share repurchase authorization expires on Jun 30, 2023.

Stocks to Consider

Some better-ranked stocks from the insurance industry are ProAssurance Corporation (PRA - Free Report) , American Financial Group, Inc. (AFG - Free Report) and Axis Capital Holdings Limited (AXS - Free Report) . While ProAssurance sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), American Financial and Axis Capital carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

The bottom line of ProAssurance surpassed earnings estimates in three of the last four quarters and missed in one, the average being 150.9%. In the past year, the insurer has lost 15.2%.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for ProAssurance’s 2022 and 2023 earnings has moved 25.9% and 13.9% north, respectively, in the past 60 days.

American Financial’s earnings surpassed estimates in each of the last four quarters, the average beat being 37.09%. In the past year, American Financial has lost 5.3%.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for AFG’s 2022 and 2023 earnings has moved 2.7% and 3.1% north, respectively, in the past 60 days.

The bottom line of Axis Capital surpassed earnings estimates in each of the last four quarters, the average being 48.08%. In the past year, the insurer has rallied 5.1%.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Axis Capital’s 2022 and 2023 earnings indicates a 25.2% and 9.71% increase, respectively from the year-ago reported figure.


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