Travelers Companies Inc. Stock Buy Recommendation Reiterated (TRV)

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Travelers Companies (NYSE:TRV) has been reiterated by TheStreet Ratings as a buy with a ratings score of A. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its revenue growth, largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures, attractive valuation levels, good cash flow from operations and increase in stock price during the past year. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had sub par growth in net income.

Highlights from the ratings report include:

• TRV's revenue growth trails the industry average of 13.1%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues slightly increased by 1.8%. This growth in revenue appears to have trickled down to the company's bottom line, improving the earnings per share.
• TRV's debt-to-equity ratio is very low at 0.27 and is currently below that of the industry average, implying that there has been very successful management of debt levels.
• Net operating cash flow has increased to $814.00 million or 28.59% when compared to the same quarter last year. Despite an increase in cash flow, TRAVELERS COS INC's average is still marginally south of the industry average growth rate of 32.78%.
• After a year of stock price fluctuations, the net result is that TRV's price has not changed very much. Although its weak earnings growth may have played a role in this flat result, don't lose sight of the fact that the performance of the overall market, as measured by the S&P 500 Index, was essentially similar. Turning our attention to the future direction of the stock, it goes without saying that even the best stocks can fall in an overall down market. However, in any other environment, this stock still has good upside potential despite the fact that it has already risen in the past year.

The Travelers Companies, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides various commercial and personal property and casualty insurance products and services to businesses, government units, associations, and individuals primarily in the United States. The company has a P/E ratio of 17.9, below the average insurance industry P/E ratio of 18.1and above the S&P 500 P/E ratio of 17.7. Travelers Companies has a market cap of $23.98 billion and is part of the financial sector and insurance industry. Shares are up 2.8% year to date as of the close of trading on Thursday.

You can view the full Travelers Companies Ratings Report or get investment ideas from our investment research center.

--Written by a member of TheStreet Ratings Staff.

TheStreet ratings do not represent the views of TheStreet's staff or its contributors. Ratings are established by computer based on metrics for performance (which includes growth, stock performance, efficiency and valuation) and risk (volatility and solvency). Companies with poor cash flow or high debt levels tend to earn lower ratings in our model.

For more information on Travelers Companies Inc. click any of the following:

• Travelers Companies Inc. Stock Price

• Travelers Companies Inc. Analyst Ratings

• Travelers Companies Inc. Key Stats & Profile

• Travelers Companies Inc. Earnings

• Travelers Companies Inc. Ratio Comparison

• Travelers Companies Inc. Growth Rates

• Travelers Companies Inc. Balance Sheet

• Travelers Companies Inc. Cash Flow

• Travelers Companies Inc. Income Statement