Insurance and financial services company The Hartford (NYSE: HIG) announced better-than-expected revenue in Q4 CY2025, with sales up 6.7% year on year to $7.34 billion. Its non-GAAP profit of $4.06 per share was 26.2% above analysts’ consensus estimates.

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Company Overview

Recognizable by its iconic stag logo that dates back to 1810, The Hartford (NYSE: HIG) provides property and casualty insurance, group benefits, and investment products to individuals and businesses across the United States.

Revenue Growth

Insurance companies earn revenue from three primary sources: 1) The core insurance business itself, often called underwriting and represented in the income statement as premiums 2) Income from investing the “float” (premiums collected upfront not yet paid out as claims) in assets such as fixed-income assets and equities 3) Fees from various sources such as policy administration, annuities, or other value-added services. Unfortunately, Hartford’s 6.7% annualized revenue growth over the last five years was mediocre. This was below our standard for the insurance sector and is a rough starting point for our analysis.

We at StockStory place the most emphasis on long-term growth, but within financials, a half-decade historical view may miss recent interest rate changes, market returns, and industry trends. Hartford’s annualized revenue growth of 7.5% over the last two years aligns with its five-year trend, suggesting its demand was stable. Note: Quarters not shown were determined to be outliers, impacted by outsized investment gains/losses that are not indicative of the recurring fundamentals of the business.

This quarter, Hartford reported year-on-year revenue growth of 6.7%, and its $7.34 billion of revenue exceeded Wall Street’s estimates by 49.9%.

Net premiums earned made up 89.8% of the company’s total revenue during the last five years, meaning Hartford barely relies on non-insurance activities to drive its overall growth.

Net premiums earned commands greater market attention due to its reliability and consistency, whereas investment and fee income are often seen as more volatile revenue streams that fluctuate with market conditions.

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Book Value Per Share (BVPS)

Insurance companies are balance sheet businesses, collecting premiums upfront and paying out claims over time. The float – premiums collected but not yet paid out – are invested, creating an asset base supported by a liability structure. Book value captures this dynamic by measuring:

• Assets (investment portfolio, cash, reinsurance recoverables) - liabilities (claim reserves, debt, future policy benefits)

BVPS is essentially the residual value for shareholders.

We therefore consider BVPS very important to track for insurers and a metric that sheds light on business quality. While other (and more commonly known) per-share metrics like EPS can sometimes be lumpy due to reserve releases or one-time items and can be managed or skewed while still following accounting rules, BVPS reflects long-term capital growth and is harder to manipulate.

Hartford’s BVPS grew at a tepid 5.5% annual clip over the last five years. However, BVPS growth has accelerated recently, growing by 14.9% annually over the last two years from $50.23 to $66.31 per share.

Over the next 12 months, Consensus estimates call for Hartford’s BVPS to grow by 22.2% to $73.18, elite growth rate.

Key Takeaways from Hartford’s Q4 Results

It was good to see Hartford beat analysts’ EPS expectations this quarter. We were also excited its net premiums earned outperformed Wall Street’s estimates by a wide margin. On the other hand, its book value per share missed. Overall, we think this was a decent quarter with some key metrics above expectations. Investors were likely hoping for more, and shares traded down 1.2% to $130.78 immediately following the results.

Should you buy the stock or not? When making that decision, it’s important to consider its valuation, business qualities, as well as what has happened in the latest quarter. We cover that in our actionable full research report which you can read here (it’s free).