Loews Corporation — 2022 Q4

SectorFinancials

Date2023-02-05

Overall sentiment-8.7

Total words345

CEO words0

CFO words0

Analyst words0

Transcript

Each turn shows the speaker, their inferred role, the section, and that turn's net sentiment (×1000).

James TischOtherPrepared remarks+0.0+0 / −0

[ The transcript was presubmitted by Loews Corporation. No live call was conducted for the fourth quarter earnings call. ]

Jane WangOtherPrepared remarks+17.2+1 / −0

For the fourth quarter of 2022, Loews reported net income of $364 million or $1.53 per share, which compares favorably to net income of $343 million or $1.36 per share in last year's fourth quarter. This year-over-year increase was driven by higher investment income from the parent company and higher income from Boardwalk, partially offset by lower net income from CNA.

Turning to our insurance subsidiaryOtherPrepared remarks-30.3+1 / −3

CNA contributed net income of $223 million to Loews in the fourth quarter of 2022, compared to $239 million in 2021. The slight year-over-year decrease was driven by lower investment results and higher catastrophes due to Winter Storm Elliott, partially offset by higher underlying underwriting income. The fourth quarter of 2022 also benefited from lower adverse reserve development on CNA's loss portfolio transfer related to asbestos and environmental liabilities.

Net written premiums grew by 9% in 2022, driven by three factorsOtherPrepared remarks+0.0+0 / −0

first, new business grew by 13%; second, retention increased by 4 points to 86%; and third, while net written rate increases decelerated to 5%, exposure growth increased to nearly 3%.

Moving to our natural gas pipeline businessOtherPrepared remarks+0.0+0 / −0

Boardwalk contributed EBITDA of $248 million in the fourth quarter compared to $207 million in the fourth quarter of 2021. For the full year, EBITDA increased from $834 million in 2021 to $892 million in 2022. As a reminder, EBITDA is defined and reconciled on page 13 of these remarks.

Finally, turning to the corporate segmentOtherPrepared remarks+29.4+1 / −0

Loews recorded investment income of $72 million in the fourth quarter of 2022 compared to $46 million in the prior year's quarter, driven by improvement in equity returns. However, full year 2022 had lower investment returns compared to 2021.

Unknown ExecutiveOtherPrepared remarks-75.0+0 / −3

Every quarter, we encourage shareholders to send us questions in advance of earnings that they would like us to answer in our remarks. Please see below for the questions we have received, along with some additional questions we found relevant.

James TischOtherPrepared remarks+0.0+1 / −1

I looked back in my notes and saw that this is the eighth time I will have commented on the economy and interest rates over the past few years. I'm pleased to say that - so far - I haven't embarrassed myself with my forecasts. I'll quickly recap my remarks here to share how my thinking has evolved in response to the Fed's actions.