(ALL) - Allstate Corporation - company topped estimates in 13 out of the past 16 quarters

The Allstate Corporation (ALL), which was introduced as a Value stock on Jun 6, recently upped its 2006 earnings per share guidance. The company beat the Street's earnings estimate in 13 out of the past 16 quarters, most recently by 10.9%. The Board of Directors recently approved a new $3 billion share repurchase program. This Zacks #1 Rank stock has a price-to-book ratio of 2.0, compared to 5.3 for the market. Full Analysis The Allstate Corporation, through its two segments, Allstate Protection and Allstate Financial, engages in the personal property and casualty insurance business, as well as in the life insurance, retirement and investment products business. ALL is up more than 14% since it was first highlighted as a Value stock on Jun 6. In addition to its solid performance, the company continues to beat the consensus earnings estimate, profit forecasts for this year are on the rise and it is still trading at a discounted valuation. ALL exceeded analysts' earnings expectations for the past three quarters by an average margin of 20.9%. Furthermore, the company topped estimates in 13 out of the past 16 quarters. Nine of the 13 quarters produced a double-digit earnings surprise. On Oct 18, the company posted third-quarter profits of $1.93 per share. This amounted to a 10.9% surprise with analysts expecting $1.74. Revenues were down slightly to $8.74 billion from $8.94 billion in the prior-year period. CEO and Chairman Edward M. Liddy stated, “We run our business with the intention of delivering profitable growth over a sustainable period of time. We believe we have the right strategy in place to do that and this quarter is another strong indication that the strategy is working.” For the first nine months of the year, profits soared to $3.78 billion from $724 million for the first nine months of 2005. Revenues climbed to $26.69 billion from $26.44 billion. ALL revised its profit guidance for the full year and now projects earnings per share between $7.35 and $7.50. The company's previous projection called for profits between $6.70 and $7.00 per share. The new outlook assumes average expected catastrophe losses for the remainder of the year and no additional prior-year reserve reestimates. The consensus estimate for the full year currently resides at $7.50 and represents a 6.1% increase over the past 60 days. The Board of Directors authorized a new $3 billion share buyback program, which is expected to commence after the current $4 billion program is completed during the fourth quarter of 2006. ALL will have completed seven share repurchase programs by the end of the year totaling $12.8 billion for an estimated 325 million shares. The Board also declared a quarterly cash dividend of 35 cents per common share of stock in mid July. The company at the moment is yielding 2.2%. ALL is currently trading at a valuation of 8.4x both trailing 12-month earnings and current fiscal-year estimated earnings. The market, as represented by the S&P 500, is trading at a valuation of 17.3x trailing 12-month earnings and at 16.2x its current fiscal-year estimated earnings. The company has a price-to-book ratio of 2.0, compared to 5.3 for the market. ALL has a PEG ratio of 0.95. Content Courtesy: Zacks Investment Research #1 Ranked Stocks Highlight Archive To truly take advantage of the Zacks Rank, you need to first understand how it works. That is why we created the free special report: Zacks Rank Guide: Harnessing the Power of Earnings Estimate Revisions. | Blog Home| VitalStocks Home