Athene Holding's Scalable Platform Aids, High Costs Hurt
Zacks Investment Research | Mar 31, 2019 10:27PM ET
Athene Holding Ltd. (NYSE:ATH) , a retirement services company, has been delivering adjusted operating income growth over a considerable period of time. The reason for this consistent success is the life insurer’s ability to leverage its structural advantages and differentiated attributes to create value. In fact, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2019 earnings is pegged at $7.39, reflecting a year-over-year increase of nearly 27%.
It is important to note here that one of the key ways to drive an excellent financial performance is through a highly scalable platform.
With respect to underwriting discipline, the company has been able to maintain a solid momentum by pricing its businesses to mid-teen returns on an aggregate basis. To that end, the insurer’s retail annuity business showed maximum growth in sales and this trend is expected to sustain in the future.
Moreover, the company’s inorganic portfolio has been impressive and the three deals inked during the third quarter of 2018 will likely fortify its portfolio in times to come. The company anticipates its inorganic pipeline to further remain sturdy.
Riding on its robust businesses and prudent acquisition abilities, the company has been able to drive steady growth. The company has been successfully generating a significant amount of total organic and inorganic deposits, thereby leading to a substantial rise in retirement services reserve liabilities.
Coming to the top line, the company has been constantly witnessing higher revenues in the last few years, primarily owing to higher premiums, product charges and investment income. In fact, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2019 revenues stands at $5.2 billion, representing a 26.5% year-over-year increase.
When it comes to capital management, the company’s approach to the same led to a significant equity value creation over a considerable period of time and we expect this to remain intact in the near term as well.
The insurer’s capital position remains sound with $9.1 billion adjusted shareholders’ equity, about $2 billion of excess capital and $2 billion of debt capacity. This, in turn, is estimated to contribute to its firm rating improvements over time.
The company’s stable return on equity (ROE) performance led to consistent growth in adjusted book value, above the already attractive historical compound growth rate of 17% over the past nine years (more than four times the industry average).
Shares of this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) life insurer have gained 2.4% year to date, underperforming the Zacks Investment Research
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