Verisk beats quarterly profit estimates on strong demand for analytics products

(Reuters) - Data analytics firm Verisk beat second-quarter profit estimates on Wednesday, driven by strong demand for its products that are primarily used by property and casualty (P&C) insurers to assess underwriting risks.

WHY IT'S IMPORTANT

P&C insurers have been seeing higher catastrophe losses in recent years due to extreme weather events around the world, prompting them to spend more on analytics that help them determine policy risks.

Global insured losses from natural catastrophes in the first half of 2024 were at least $61 billion, 25% above the 10-year average for the period, heavily driven by storm activity in the United States, according to a report by reinsurance broker Gallagher Re.

Moreover, growing optimism around rate cuts has also been encouraging clients to spend more on such products.

CONTEXT

The company now primarily caters to U.S. P&C insurers across personal and commercial lines of business after it divested from specialized markets and financial services businesses in March 2022 and April 2022, respectively.

BY THE NUMBERS

On an adjusted basis, Verisk earned $1.74 per share in the second quarter, beating analysts' estimates of $1.64 per share, according to LSEG data.

The company's consolidated revenue rose 6.2% to $717 million compared with the previous year.

(Reporting by Jaiveer Singh Shekhawat in Bengaluru; Editing by Vijay Kishore)