5 Insurance Stocks That Sandy Didn't Blow Away

1. Allstate

Shares of Allstate (ALL) closed at $42.93 Monday, trading for 9.5 times the consensus 2013 EPS estimate of $4.53. The consensus 2014 EPS estimate is $4.88.

The shares returned 50% during 2012.

Based on a quarterly payout of 22 cents, the shares have a dividend yield of 2.05%.

Allstate announced on Nov. 28 estimated that its losses for October, net of reinsurance, totaled $1.1 billion before taxes. The company said that "autos represent approximately 40% of the total gross losses, with 78% in New York, 19% in New Jersey and 3% in other states."

For its Property-Liability unit, Allstate reported underwriting income of $1.316 billion for the first three quarters of 2012. During 2011, the unit had an underwriting loss of $874 million.

The company will announce its fourth-quarter results on Feb. 7, with analysts expecting a loss of seven cents a share, compared to a profit of $1.46 a share the previous quarter, and EPS of $1.48 during the fourth quarter of 2011.

Allstate on Dec. 17 announced that its board of directors had "approved a share repurchase program of up to $1 billion to be funded by issuing a like amount of subordinated debentures," after its previous buyback program was completed.

Following the company's announcement, Credit Suisse analyst Michael Zaremski reiterated his "Outperform" rating for Allstate, with a $42 price target, saying he expected the company's board of directors to approve an additional $1 billion worth of stock (equal to 5% of shares outstanding at today's stock price [on Dec. 1]) via the issuance of a like amount of hybrid debt."

Zaremski estimates that Allstate will earn $4.35 a share in 2013 with EPS rising to $4.72 in 2014.

ALL data by YCharts

Interested in more on Allstate? See TheStreet Ratings' report card for this stock.

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-- Written by Philip van Doorn in Jupiter, Fla.

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Philip W. van Doorn is a member of TheStreet's banking and finance team, commenting on industry and regulatory trends. He previously served as the senior analyst for TheStreet.com Ratings, responsible for assigning financial strength ratings to banks and savings and loan institutions. Mr. van Doorn previously served as a loan operations officer at Riverside National Bank in Fort Pierce, Fla., and as a credit analyst at the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York, where he monitored banks in New York, New Jersey and Puerto Rico. Mr. van Doorn has additional experience in the mutual fund and computer software industries. He holds a bachelor of science in business administration from Long Island University.

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