Lincoln Financial Group Q4 Profit Up 10%, Results Beat View

(RTTNews) - Lincoln Financial Group (LNC), a company engaged in the multiple insurance and retirement businesses, on Wednesday reported a 10 percent increase in profit for the fourth quarter on higher revenues. Both revenue and earnings per share beat analysts' estimates. Assets under management rose 16 percent from last year.

The Radnor, Pennsylvania-based company's net income for the fourth quarter was $351 million or $1.29 per share, up from $320 million or $1.14 per share in the prior-year quarter.

The latest quarter's results include a net gain from general account investments of $2 million, compared to net loss of $2 million in the prior-year quarter. The results also include variable annuity net derivatives loss of $27 million, comprising negative hedge program performance of $12 million and a $15 million loss associated with the non-performance risk component.

Income from operations for the quarter were $382 million or $1.40 per share, compared to $310 million or $1.10 per share in the year-ago period. On average, 22 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to earn $1.28 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Total operating revenues for the quarter grew 8 percent to $3.19 billion from $2.96 billion in the prior-year period. Analysts had a consensus revenue estimate of $3.10 billion.

For fiscal 2013, Lincoln Financial's net income was $1.24 billion or $4.52 per share, down from $1.31 billion or $4.56 per share in the prior year. Income from operations for the year were $1.38 billion or $5.03 per share, compared to $1.28 billion or $4.47 per share in the previous year.

Operating revenues for the quarter grew 6 percent to $12.24 billion from $11.57 billion last year.

Street expected the company to earn $4.91 per share for the year on revenues of $12.16 billion.

Assets under management at the end of the year were $207 billion, up 16 percent from the prior year.

LNC closed Wednesday's regular trading session at $47.11, up $0.25 or 0.53 percent on a volume of 2.72 million shares. In after-hours, the stock further gained $2.61 or 5.54 percent to $49.72.