XL shares climb after swing to profit

By Noah Buhayar

Published May 10, 2012 at 8:02 am (Updated May 10, 2012 at 8:01 am)

XL: Shares rise and analysts upbeat on prospects

NEW YORK (Bloomberg) - XL Group Plc advanced the most since November in New York trading yesterday after the insurer swung to a first-quarter profit, beating analysts’ estimates.

The insurer rallied 4.3 percent to $22.25 in New York Stock Exchange trading yesterday, the top gain in the 77-company Bloomberg World Insurance Index.

XL posted net income of $176.6 million, compared with a net loss of $227.3 million a year earlier, the Dublin-based firm said in a statement late on Tuesday, as reported in yesterday’s Royal Gazette.

Operating profit was 52 cents per share, beating by 12 cents the average estimate of 19 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Premium revenue climbed 6.8 percent. Insurers have been customers more after catastrophe costs hurt the industry in last year’s first quarter.

“The company continues to make progress quarter by quarter,” said Paul Newsome, an analyst at Sandler O’Neill & Partners LP, in a note to clients today. “The pricing momentum that began one year ago for XL is real and sustainable.”

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Published May 10, 2012 at 8:02 am (Updated May 10, 2012 at 8:01 am)

XL shares climb after swing to profit

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