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MET

MetLife, Inc.

5/19/2013, 11:53 PM ET

Quote & Headlines Market Currents StockTalk

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Saturday, May 18, 8:45 AM Newly public ING U.S. (VOYA) is up 20% since its IPO 2 weeks ago, but only trades at 60% of book value compared to the average life insurer (MET, HIG, PRU) selling for near book, writes Andrew Bary. Not only that, but the company is misunderstood - it's more retirement-services specialist and asset manager (think PFG) than life insurer, and should command an even higher valuation. What's more the seller (ING) was forced by regulators to do so against its will, the ING CEO calling it a "significant destruction of capital." Spinoff & Reorg Profiles - rarely a fan of promoted IPOs - think's it's worth $31. With an easily digestible $6B market cap, it might be worth even more to an acquirer. Comment! [Quick Ideas, Financials]
Wednesday, May 15, 6:03 PM Third Point discloses new positions in: Anadarko Petroleum (APC), BE Aerospace (BEAV), Cabot Oil (COG), Chimera Investment (CIM), Hess (HES), Hilshire Brands (HSH), Tiffany (TIF), Thermo Fisher (TMO), and Virgin Media (MMED). It raises stakes in: AbbVie (ABBV) and International Paper (IP), and exits Abbott Labs (ABT), Capital One (COF), Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE), Herbalife (HLF), Illumina (ILMN), MetLife (MET), Morgan Stanley (MS) and Tesoro (TSO). (13-F) 4 Comments
Thursday, May 9, 3:18 PM U.K. mobile banking specialist Monitise PLC (MONIF.PK +9.1%) pops as Lee Cooperman - presenting at SALT in Las Vegas - calls it his top conviction pick: "no financial risk .. no debt ... the blessing of Visa." He owns more than 10% of the company. Other top picks: ESRX, QCOM, C, AIG, MET, and RIG. 3 Comments [Quick Ideas]
Thursday, May 9, 7:11 AM MetLife (MET) and Manulife Financial (MFC) are reportedly among the companies submitting bids for a controlling stake in the life insurance unit of Malaysia's AMMB Holdings (worth about $350M). It would mark the 3rd insurance deal in Malaysia this year as sellers cash out amid demand from Western firms for growing markets and interest rates north of zero. Comment! [Financials]
Tuesday, May 7, 3:56 PM More on Goldman's AIG downgrade (earlier): Better bets are Travelers (TRV) and Allstate (ALL) - like AIG, set to benefit from improving insurance margins, but also able to return capital without the regulatory risk. Prudential (PRU) and MetLife (MET) might also be better ideas - like AIG, they do face regulatory risk over capital returns, but both have more muted expectations and trade at lower valuations. 3 Comments [Financials]
Monday, May 6, 9:30 AM MetLife (MET) is seeing positive comments out of Sterne Agee which finds the valuation - at 7x expected 2014 EPS - extremely compelling, simply too low in our view for this franchise. 1 Comment [Financials]
Thursday, May 2, 8:30 AM MetLife (MET) management tells conference call listeners it's comfortable with the top-end of its FY2013 EPS guidance of $4.95-$5.25. What the company is losing thanks to low interest rates, it's mostly gaining back from the solid performance of equity markets. Shares +1.6% premarket. Comment! [Financials]
Wednesday, May 1, 4:30 PM More on MetLife (MET) Q1 earnings: Operating earnings of $1.48/share up 12% Y/Y. Book value of $47.37/share up 2% Y/Y. Americas operating income of $1.3B up 12% on revenue up 5%. LatAM earnings of $143M down 3% thanks to lower investment income (revenue gained 20%). Asia income of $333M up 11%. EMEA income of $87M up 21%. Net investment income of $5.1B up 1%. Shares unchanged AH. Conference call at 8 ET. (PR) Comment! [Earnings, Financials]
Wednesday, May 1, 4:10 PM Metlife (MET): Q1 EPS of $1.48 beats by $0.18. Revenue of $16.98B misses by $52M. (PR). Shares +1.6% AH. 1 Comment [Financials, Earnings, Breaking News, On the Move]
Wednesday, May 1, 7:00 AM The two men in charge of ING's U.S. unit - IPOing today and set to be renamed Voya Financial (VOYA) - are "the unsung heroes" of AIG, according to the former exec in charge of restructuring at the insurer. Voya CEO Rod Martin and COO Alain Karaoglan both oversaw AIG units as they were sold to raise capital. At the midpoint of the $21-$24 IPO price range, Voya would be selling for about 40% of book, a lower valuation than competitors MET, PFG, PRU, and LNC. 2 Comments [Financials]
Wednesday, May 1, 12:10 AM Notable earnings after Wednesday’ s close: ALL, ARI, ARR, ATML, ATO, ATW, AXLL, AXTI, BKD, BMR, CACI, CAR, CBS, CJES, CNQR, CSOD, CVD, CVI, CVRR, CWT, CXO, DVR, DX, DXCM, DXPE, EDMC, ESS, EXPD, EXXI, FB, FNF, FRT, G, GLUU, GNK, GTAT, HNSN, HR, IPI, IPXL, IVR, JDSU, KIM, LNC, LOCK, LVS, MAC, MAR, MET, MUR, NAVB, NGD, NLY, NTRI, PHH, POL, PRU, PSE, PXD, QUIK, ROVI, SAM, SFLY, SGMO, SLTM, SNCR, STX, TEG, TGI, TPC, TSO, TTEK, UAN, UNM, V, VVC, WES, WLT, YELP Comment! [Earnings]
Tuesday, April 30, 5:35 PM Notable earnings after Wednesday’ s close: ALL, ARI, ARR, ATML, ATO, ATW, AXLL, AXTI, BKD, BMR, CACI, CAR, CBS, CJES, CNQR, CSOD, CVD, CVI, CVRR, CWT, CXO, DVR, DX, DXCM, DXPE, EDMC, ESS, EXPD, EXXI, FB, FNF, FRT, G, GLUU, GNK, GTAT, HNSN, HR, IPI, IPXL, IVR, JDSU, KIM, LNC, LOCK, LVS, MAC, MAR, MET, MUR, NAVB, NGD, NLY, NTRI, PHH, POL, PRU, PSE, PXD, QUIK, ROVI, SAM, SFLY, SGMO, SLTM, SNCR, STX, TEG, TGI, TPC, TSO, TTEK, UAN, UNM, V, VVC, WES, WLT, YELP 2 Comments [Earnings]
Friday, April 26, 11:58 AM If a profit squeeze due to low interest rates is insurers' #1 concern, then an unexpected spike in rates is #2, according to a Goldman survey. "There is a real concern (the transition to higher rates) will be a volatile one," says Robert Goodman. MetLife (MET) for one - which presciently hedged against low rates many years ago - is now hedging against sharply higher ones. Comment! [Financials]
Tuesday, April 23, 11:05 AM The insurance sector is broadly higher following the MetLife dividend hike. Worth remembering - Met (MET) is a special case, until recently under the Fed's regulatory thumb due to its banking operations (now divested). PRU +2.8%, HIG +2.4%. Maybe most interesting is AIG +4.1% as investors ponder the capital return possibilities. 4 Comments [Financials, On the Move]
Tuesday, April 23, 10:55 AM MetLife (MET +5.2%) bumps its quarterly dividend to $0.275/share from $0.185 previously, a 48.6% increase. It's the first dividend hike since prior to the financial crisis, and brings the annualized yield to 2.9%. (PR) 1 Comment [Financials, On the Move, Top Stories]
Wednesday, April 10, 7:09 AM MetLife (MET) takes the offensive in the debate over financial regulations, arguing that the company shouldn't be categorized as a "systemically important financial institution." Execs plan to press the point that selling life insurance and annuities to buyers is a far cry from investment banking and that MetLife shouldn't be forced to hold higher levels of capital. Comment! [Financials]

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