Yahoo Finance Willis Towers (WLTW) Q4 Earnings Top Estimates, Improve Y/Y
Willis Towers Watson Public Limited Company WLTW delivered fourth-quarter 2019 adjusted earnings of $4.90 per share, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $4.85 by 1%.
The quarter under discussion witnessed organic revenue growth.
Also, the bottom line improved 22.5% from the year-ago figure on the back of higher segmental revenue contributions.
Operational Update
Willis Towers Watson posted adjusted consolidated revenues of $2.69 million, up 13% year over year. Moreover, the metric grew 5% on organic basis. The top line also beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 2.2%.
Total cost of providing services increased 5.3% year over year to $2 billion.
Adjusted EBITDA for the fourth quarter was $930 million, up 20.2% year over year.
Adjusted operating income surged 24.5% year over year to $809 million in the reported quarter.
Willis Towers Watson Public Limited Company Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise
Willis Towers Watson Public Limited Company price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Willis Towers Watson Public Limited Company Quote
Quarterly Segment Update
Human Capital & Benefits: Total revenues of $865 million were up 3% year over year. Operating margin was 30.1% for the quarter under review.
Corporate Risk & Broking: Total revenues of $877 million improved 7% year over year. Operating margin was 30.3% in the quarter under review.
Investment, Risk & Reinsurance: Total revenues of $314 million was up 12% from the prior-year quarter’s number. Operating margin was 9.1%.
Benefits Delivery & Administration: Total revenues of $595 million soared 53% year over year. Operating margin was 52.4%.
Financial Update
Cash and cash equivalents decreased 14.1% to $887 million from the 2018-end level.
Long-term debt increased 20.8% from the level at 2018 end to nearly $5.3 billion at the reported quarter-end.
Shareholders’ equity increased 4% from the level on Dec 31, 2018 to $10.4 billion as of Dec 31, 2019.
For 2019, cash from operations declined 16% year over year to $1.08 billion.
For the same period, free cash flow was $835 million, down 18% year over year.
The company bought back shares worth $3 million in the quarter under review.
Full-Year Update
For the full year, the company repurchased shares worth $150 million.
For the year ended Dec 31, 2019, revenues were $9.04 billion, up 6% year over year.
Adjusted earnings per share came in at $10.96, up 12.6% year over year.
Zacks Rank
Willis Towers carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Performance of Other Insurers
Among other players from the insurance industry having reported fourth-quarter earnings so far, the bottom-line results of Brown & Brown, Inc. BRO and RLI Corp. RLI beat the respective Zacks Consensus Estimate while that of Principal Financial PFG matched the same.
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