AFLAC Earnings: Profit Rises for Fourth Straight Quarter

S&P 500 (NYSE:SPY) component AFLAC Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) reported its results for the second quarter. Aflac, a general business holding company, provides supplemental health and life insurance through its subsidiaries in the United States and Japan.

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AFLAC Incorporated Earnings Cheat Sheet

Results: Net income for AFLAC Incorporated rose to $483 million ($1.03 per share) vs. $274 million (59 cents per share) in the same quarter a year earlier. This marks a rise of 76.3% from the year-earlier quarter.

Revenue: Rose 16% to $5.9 billion from the year-earlier quarter.

Actual vs. Wall St. Expectations: AFLAC Incorporated fell short of the mean analyst estimate of $1.61 per share. It fell short of the average revenue estimate of $6.28 billion.

Quoting Management: Commenting on the company’s second quarter results, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Daniel P. Amos stated: “We are pleased with our overall results in the second quarter of 2012. Aflac Japan had another strong quarter, continuing impressive sales momentum, especially through the bank channel. Aflac Japan’s second quarter production set an all-time new annualized premium sales record for the fourth quarter in a row. I would also note that persistency remained strong. Facing difficult sales comparisons in the third and fourth quarter, we anticipate new annualized premium sales in the second half of the year will be flat to up 5%. However, combining this second half sales expectation with the tremendous results we produced in the first half of the year, we believe it is reasonable to expect an annual sales increase for 2012 of 22% to 25%. “Aflac U.S. also generated positive second quarter results.”

Key Stats:

Revenue has risen for the last four quarters. Revenue increased 21.9% to $6.24 billion in the first quarter. The figure rose 12.9% in the fourth quarter of the last fiscal year from the year earlier and climbed 11% in the third quarter of the last fiscal year from the year-ago quarter.

The company fell short of estimates last quarter after beating the mark the quarter before with net income of $1.74 versus a mean estimate of net income of $1.65 per share.

Looking Forward: The outlook for the company’s results in the upcoming quarter is unfavorable. The average estimate for the third quarter is $1.62 per share, down from $1.65 ninety days ago. For the fiscal year, the average estimate has moved up from $6.49 a share to $6.55 over the last ninety days.

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(Company fundamentals provided by Xignite Financials. Earnings estimates provided by Zacks)

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