(Bloomberg) ? Analysts are standing by American International Group Inc. even after regulatory probes into the world's biggest insurance company led to the resignation of its chief executive and a 14 percent drop in its shares this year.

AIG has the highest average analyst rating among insurers in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index. Twenty-four of 25 analysts left their "buy," "hold" or equivalent recommendation on AIG unchanged following the departure of Maurice "Hank" Greenberg on March 14 and disclosures that New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer and the Securities and Exchange Commission are investigating potential earnings manipulation.

Analysts such as Sanford C. Bernstein & Co.'s Todd R. Bault say AIG's earnings prospects will overshadow the financial impact of the investigations.

"For investors who own the stock now, we cannot recommend a sale the fundamental analysis is too compelling," Bault wrote in a note yesterday. "We also acknowledge that, for new investors, AIG is (a) high risk proposition at this time." Bault rates the stock "outperform."

Bault expects AIG to post earnings this year of $5.30 a share, more than the average analyst estimate of $5.24 in a Thomson Financial survey. He forecasts AIG shares will climb 50 percent to $85 within a year.

Greenberg wasn't the only executive to leave AIG. The company this week dismissed Chief Financial Officer Howard Smith and Christian Milton, a vice president for reinsurance, for failing to cooperate with government probes.

Such management changes may increase the likelihood of a downgrade from a rating company and invite more scrutiny of AIG's transactions, analysts said.

Still, AIG's financial results won't likely be "materially impacted" by possible rating downgrades, according to JPMorgan analyst Jimmy S. Bhullar. In a March 17 note, he estimates an impact of less than 10 cents a share on annual earnings should AIG see a lowering of its rating while the financial strength ratings of its insurance subsidiaries are left intact. Bhullar maintained an "overweight" rating on the shares.

C. Gregory Peters of Raymond James & Associates Inc. was the only analyst tracked by Bloomberg to downgrade AIG shares on Greenberg's resignation.

He cut his recommendation to "underperform" from "market perform" on March 14, citing expectations of more management changes and increased costs linked to an overhaul.

AIG said last month that Spitzer and the Securities and Exchange Commission issued the company subpoenas over insurance policies that may have been used to smooth earnings.

"No one seems to be paying attention to deeper issues," Peters said in an interview yesterday. In particular, he cited Greenberg's continuing involvement with companies that control a "large portion" of AIG's executive pay packages.

The companies ? C.V. Starr & Co., Starr International Co. and the Starr Foundation ? also control 16 percent of AIG shares, Peters wrote in a March 18 note to investors.

AIG yesterday added 50 cents to $56.70 in New York Stock Exchange trading.

Bloomberg assigns a number to each analyst rating that ranges from 1 to 5, with 5 being the highest recommendation. To calculate the average, these numbers are added together and the total is divided by the number of recommendations made during the past 12 months.

AIG has an average rating of 4.2, exceeding the ratings of 20 other insurance companies in the S&P 500, according to Bloomberg data. St. Paul Travelers Cos., the No. 2 US commercial insurer, is the only other insurer with a 4.2 rating. The group has an average rating of 3.5.