Shares of Corebridge Financial, Inc. CRBG have risen 7.6% since the company reported first-quarter 2025 results on May 5. The better-than-expected quarterly earnings benefited from higher investment income, and lower benefits and expenses. However, the results were hurt by a decline in Life Insurance and institutional market premiums and deposits, and lower pension risk transfer.
CRBG reported first-quarter 2025 operating earnings per share of $1.16, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 0.9%. The bottom line climbed 5.5% year over year.
Adjusted revenues declined 19% year over year to $4.7 billion. The top line fell short of the consensus mark by 9.2%.
Corebridge Financial, Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise
Corebridge Financial, Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise
Corebridge Financial, Inc. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Corebridge Financial, Inc. Quote
Quarterly Operational Update of CRBG
Premiums and deposits were $9.3 billion, which declined 12% year over year. Premiums and deposits, excluding transactional activity and the sale of international businesses, decreased 6% year over year due to lower fixed annuity deposits.
Net investment income improved 10.6% year over year to $2.9 billion, attributable to increased base portfolio income, variable investment income, and corporate and other income.
Total benefits and expenses of $4.5 billion decreased 7.6% year over year due to lower policyholder benefits, general operating expenses and the net change in the fair value of market risk benefits.
Corebridge’s adjusted pre-tax operating income decreased 3% year over year to $810 million in the first quarter.
Adjusted return on average equity of 11.8% deteriorated 10 basis points (bps) year over year. (Find the latest earnings estimates and surprises on Zacks Earnings Calendar.)
Segmental Performance of CRBG
Individual Retirement
The segment recorded premiums and deposits of $4.7 billion in the first quarter, which declined 3% year over year due to lower fixed annuity deposits. Fee income increased 0.3% year over year to $308 million.
Spread income of $698 million declined 2.1% year over year. The unit’s adjusted pre-tax operating income fell 11% year over year to $554 million, lower than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $565.3 million. The metric suffered due to higher non-deferrable commissions and deferred acquisition costs.
Group Retirement
Premiums and deposits declined 11% year over year to $1.8 billion in the segment, attributable to lower out-of-plan deposits. Fee income of $195 million improved 2.6% year over year.
Spread income fell 4% year over year to $192 million. Adjusted pre-tax operating income was $195 million, which declined 3% year over year due to a decrease in base spread income. However, the metric also beat the consensus mark of $170.2 million.
Life Insurance
The unit’s premiums and deposits of $856 million fell 22% year over year. Adjusted pre-tax operating income climbed 100% year over year to $108 million due to the improved underwriting margin. The metric came higher than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $94.9 million.
Institutional Markets
Premiums and deposits decreased 25% year over year to $1.9 billion due to lower premiums from the pension risk transfer transaction. Fee income decreased 6.3% year over year to $15 million.
Spread income of $132 million surged 24.5% year over year. The segment recorded an adjusted pre-tax operating income of $137 million, which increased 22% year over year due to improved variable investment income. However, the metric missed the consensus mark of $137.9 million.
Corporate and Other
The unit incurred an adjusted pre-tax operating loss of $184 million, wider than the year-ago quarter’s loss of $151 million, due to increased interest expenses on financial debt due.
Corebridge’s Financial Position (as of March 31, 2025)
Corebridge exited the first quarter with a cash balance of $393 million, which declined from $806 million at 2024-end. Total investments of $250.2 billion increased from the figure at 2024-end of $243.8 billion.
Total assets of $390 billion increased from the 2024-end figure of $389.4 billion.
Short-term and long-term debt amounted to $10.5 billion, in line with the figure as of Dec. 31, 2024.
Total equity rose 4.1% from the 2024-end level to $12.8 billion.
Adjusted book value per share was $38.83, which decreased 2.4% year over year.
CRBG’s Share Repurchase & Dividend Update
Corebridge bought back common shares worth $321 million in the first quarter. It also paid quarterly dividends of $133 million.
CRBG’s Zacks Rank & Key Picks
CRBG currently carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).
Some better-ranked stocks in the broader Finance space are Horace Mann Educators Corp HMN, EverQuote Inc. EVER and Heritage Insurance Holdings Inc. HRTG, each sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
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