Bermuda reinsurance stocks fell yesterday after third-quarter results from Axis Capital were lower than expected.

RenaissanceRe Holdings, which beat expectations, also saw its share price fall.

Axis reported net income of $235.4 million and operating earnings, which exclude net realised investment gains and losses, was $228.1 million, or $1.38 a share, Axis said.

The company was expected to make $1.31 a share, according to the average estimate of 14 analysts in a Thomson First Call survey.

“The beat versus our estimate was driven largely by higher prior year reserve releases,” Daniel Farrell, an analyst at Fox-Pitt, Kelton, wrote in a note to clients, MarketWatch reported. Premium growth was lower than expected, he added.

Axis shares fell 6.1 percent to close $32.85 yesterday. Before yesterday, the stock had climbed more than 20 percent in three months.

Axis chief executive John Charman told a conference call that Axis has been able to reduce the amount of risk it takes on while maintaining premium rates, thus generating some of the best risk-adjusted profits he’s seen during his 35 years in the business.

“The industry benefited from benign catastrophe loss activity in the year-to-date,” Mr. Charman said. “This makes it challenging to distinguish the quality of our disciplined underwriting approach and overall portfolio management against others who may have just been lucky.”

Despite beating Wall Street estimates by a wide margin, RenaissanceRe shares fell 3.4 percent to close at $54.40.

Also down were Endurance Specialty (-2.91 percent), Arch Capital (-2.35 percent) and Montpelier Re (-1.99 percent).Results: Page 26