Hartford (NYSE:HIG) Reports Sales Below Analyst Estimates In Q2 Earnings

Insurance and financial services company The Hartford (NYSE:HIG) missed Wall Street’s revenue expectations in Q2 CY2025, but sales rose 7.7% year on year to $6.99 billion. Its non-GAAP profit of $3.41 per share was 20.4% above analysts’ consensus estimates.

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“The Hartford’s second quarter results were outstanding, with core earnings reaching nearly $1 billion,” said The Hartford’s Chairman and CEO Christopher Swift.

Company Overview

Recognizable by its iconic stag logo that dates back to 1810, The Hartford (NYSE:HIG) provides property and casualty insurance, group benefits, and investment products to individuals and businesses across the United States.

Revenue Growth

Insurers earn revenue three ways. The core insurance business itself, often called underwriting and represented in the income statement as premiums earned, is one way. Investment income from investing the “float” (premiums collected upfront not yet paid out as claims) in assets such as fixed-income assets and equities is the second way. Fees from various sources such as policy administration, annuities, or other value-added services is the third.

Unfortunately, Hartford’s 5.8% annualized revenue growth over the last five years was tepid. This fell short of our benchmark for the insurance sector and is a poor baseline for our analysis.

Long-term growth is the most important, but within financials, a half-decade historical view may miss recent interest rate changes and market returns. Hartford’s annualized revenue growth of 7.9% over the last two years is above its five-year trend, suggesting some bright spots.

This quarter, Hartford’s revenue grew by 7.7% year on year to $6.99 billion, missing Wall Street’s estimates.

Net premiums earned made up 89.9% of the company’s total revenue during the last five years, meaning Hartford barely relies on non-insurance activities to drive its overall growth.

Our experience and research show the market cares primarily about an insurer’s net premiums earned growth as investment and fee income are considered more susceptible to market volatility and economic cycles.

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Book Value Per Share (BVPS)

Insurance companies are balance sheet businesses, collecting premiums upfront and paying out claims over time. The float – premiums collected but not yet paid out – are invested, creating an asset base supported by a liability structure. Book value captures this dynamic by measuring:

• Assets (investment portfolio, cash, reinsurance recoverables) - liabilities (claim reserves, debt, future policy benefits)

BVPS is essentially the residual value for shareholders.

We therefore consider BVPS very important to track for insurers and a metric that sheds light on business quality. While other (and more commonly known) per-share metrics like EPS can sometimes be lumpy due to reserve releases or one-time items and can be managed or skewed while still following accounting rules, BVPS reflects long-term capital growth and is harder to manipulate.

Hartford’s BVPS grew at a tepid 5.1% annual clip over the last five years. However, BVPS growth has accelerated recently, growing by 15.5% annually over the last two years from $45.00 to $60.02 per share.

Over the next 12 months, Consensus estimates call for Hartford’s BVPS to grow by 26.9% to $67.52, elite growth rate.

Key Takeaways from Hartford’s Q2 Results

We were impressed by how significantly Hartford blew past analysts’ EPS expectations this quarter. We were also excited its net premiums earned outperformed Wall Street’s estimates by a wide margin. On the other hand, its book value per share fell slightly short. Overall, this print was mixed but still had some key positives. The stock remained flat at $122.50 immediately after reporting.

Is Hartford an attractive investment opportunity right now? We think that the latest quarter is only one piece of the longer-term business quality puzzle. Quality, when combined with valuation, can help determine if the stock is a buy. We cover that in our actionable full research report which you can read here, it’s free.