Brighthouse Financial (NASDAQ: BHF) is a major U.S. provider of annuities and life insurance products. Its quarterly results are closely watched because earnings can be affected by investment performance, hedging results, actuarial assumptions, and market-related changes in insurance liabilities.
The central theme for the quarter was an earnings miss on an adjusted basis. Brighthouse Financial reported adjusted earnings of $251 million, or $4.35 per diluted share. This missed the $4.75 per-share estimate cited by Zacks/AP, but it still increased from $4.17 per share in the same quarter of the previous year.
Revenue was also weaker than expected. Analysts surveyed by Zacks expected adjusted revenue of $2.21 billion, while the company reported adjusted revenue of about $2.1 billion. Brighthouse’s own release shows revenue before net investment gains/losses and net derivative gains/losses of $2.09 billion, while GAAP total revenue was $1.53 billion.
Brighthouse Financial posted a GAAP net loss available to shareholders of $792 million, or $13.82 per diluted share. The company noted that net income or loss can be volatile because of differences between its hedge target and GAAP reserves, which are affected by market performance.
