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Radian Group (RDN) Q3 Earnings Beat Estimates, Improve Y/Y

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Radian Group Inc.’s (RDN - Free Report) third-quarter 2018 operating income of 71 cents per share beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 12.7%. The bottom line also improved 54.3% year over year.

Radian Group Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

 

Radian Group Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise | Radian Group Inc. Quote

The company benefited from a solid performance at its Mortgage Insurance segment along with higher premiums. It continued to grow its insurance in force portfolio, a major catalyst for future earnings.

The third quarter proved to be excellent for the company as it witnessed growth in net income, mortgage insurance in force, net operating return on equity as well as book value per share. The performance in this quarter represents strong customer relations, quality of the team and a robust financial position.

Net income per share came in at 66 cents, which improved a whopping 120% from the year-ago quarter.

Behind the Headlines

Operating revenues grew 10.6% year over year to $298.6 million, courtesy of higher net premiums, investment income as well as other income. Total revenues (including services revenues and net loss on investments and other financial instruments) totaled $330.7 million, up nearly 5.9% year over year.

Total net premiums earned were $258.4 million, up nearly 9.2% year over year.

New mortgage insurance written grew 4.2% year over year to $15.8 billion (on a flow basis) in the quarter under review. As of Sep 30, 2018, total primary mortgage insurance in force was $217.1 billion, up 10.5% from $196.5 billion as of Sep 30, 2017.

Persistency — percentage of mortgage insurance in force that remains in the company’s books after a 12-month period — was 81.4% as of Sep 30, 2018. The company reported a persistency of 80% as of Sep 30, 2017.

Primary delinquent loans were 20,770 in the third quarter, down 12.8% year over year.

Total expenses decreased 30.2% year over year to $145.9 million, primarily on the back of lower provision for losses, cost of services, restructuring and other exit costs as well as interest expense.

Segment Update

Net premiums earned by Mortgage Insurance segment were $255.5 million, up nearly 7.9% year over year. Claims paid were $59.8 million in the quarter under review, down 54.5% year over year. Loss ratio improved 710 basis points to 8.1%.

The Mortgage and Real Estate Services segment reported a 0.5% year-over-year dip in total revenues to $40.9 million. Pre-tax operating loss of $7.9 million was narrower than the year-ago quarter’s loss of $12.9 million.

Restructuring and other exit costs came in at $0.4 million in the reported quarter.

Financial Update

As of Sep 30, 2018, Radian Group had a solid cash balance of $104.4 million, up 68.6% year over year.

Long-term debt was $1 billion, up 0.3% year over year.

Book value per share, a measure of net worth, grew 13% year over year to $15.69 as of Sep 30, 2018.

Zacks Rank

Radian Group holds a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Performance of Other Insurers

Among other players from the insurance industry having reported third-quarter earnings so far, the bottom line of The Progressive Corporation (PGR - Free Report) and MGIC Investment Corporation (MTG - Free Report) outpaced the respective Zacks Consensus Estimate while the metric of RLI Corp. (RLI - Free Report) missed the same.

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