The Travelers Companies, Inc.

• One Mind-Blowing Revelation The Buffett Bulls Might’ve Missed

  By Meena Krishnamsetty - May 22, 2013 | Tickers: AIG, BRK-B, HIG, ALL, TRV

  Berkshire-Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-B) held its annual meeting a few weekends ago at the Century Link Center in Omaha; see Insider Monkey's recap from the meeting. An annual spring rite of passage for value investors, the meeting contained thousands of shareholders who flocked to the Midwest to pay homage to the Oracle of Omaha. During the course of the meeting, and in his annual shareholder letter, Buffett discussed future plans more »

• 1 Property & Casualty Insurance Company To Buy

  By Wes Patoka - May 21, 2013 | Tickers: ALL, CB, TRV

  Property and casualty insurance companies are some of the most profitable and necessary companies around. Unlike their peers in healthcare, there are not mandates that restrict the profit margins of these companies; it is all a balance of raising premiums and keeping customers happy. Today, we will look at three companies in this segment: Travelers (NYSE: TRV), Allstate (NYSE: ALL) and Chubb (NYSE: CB). All three of these companies have more »

• These Insurers Are Rewarding Shareholders Handsomely

  By Robert Ciura - May 9, 2013 | Tickers: MET, RLI, TRV

  Insurance companies enjoy a two-sided business model: they earn cash from premiums paid on the policies they write and then again through investing the large pools of their accumulated capital. In recent years, insurers have been a great place to look for investors interested in both diversifying into the financial industry as well as producing yield from their stock investments.

  This trend has continued in recent weeks, as several of more »

• Exciting Investment Ideas in "Stodgy” Industries

  By Jeff Stouffer - May 9, 2013 | Tickers: MET, KBWI, CB, TRV

  When turnaround trends take place in industries that have been considered boring or unappealing for extended periods of time, such events can be rather explosive. A good example of this is the PowerShares KBW Insurance Portfolio (NYSEMKT: KBWI)), an ETF that holds only insurance-company stocks. The inception date is Nov. 1, 2011 and the posted one-year return is approximately 28.9%.

  The release of the PowerShares KBW Insurance Portfolio appears more »

• This Insurance Powerhouse Will Continue Outperforming

  By Andrés Cardenal - May 7, 2013 | Tickers: AIG, ALL, CB, TRV

  American International Group (NYSE: AIG) rose by nearly 5% on Friday after the company announced better than expected earnings figures on Thursday after the close. The stock is up by more than 20% in the last year, but make no mistake, there is still plenty of upside room in this recovering insurance giant.

  After the storm

  AIG made the worst possible kind of bet during the credit bubble; the company more »

• Coke's Recipe for Success

  By Wes Patoka - April 30, 2013 | Tickers: KO, PEP, TRV

  Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) has been a stalwart of the Dow Jones industrial average, and has been a favorite in Berkshire Hathaway’s equity holdings for years. Coca-Cola has a simple business model and a product that is arguably the most known brand in the entire world. This company has been rewarding shareholders for decades, and has laid out a plan to double its revenue and volume in a decade. Coca-Cola more »

• Three Stocks I’m Buying After Tuesday’s Earnings

  By Brian Nichols - April 25, 2013 | Tickers: COH, DAL, TRV

  In this article I am separating the good from the bad, not in terms of stock performance, but rather fundamentals compared to valuation following earnings. This is one of the best times of the year to capitalize on value, and in this piece I am looking at three stocks that are presenting large upside.

  Best Q1 in More than a Decade

  As the price of fuel has declined, shares of more »

• Is AIG a Good Stock to Buy?

  By Meena Krishnamsetty - April 18, 2013 | Tickers: ACE, AIG, HIG, CB, TRV

  During the fourth quarter of 2012, American International Group (NYSE: AIG) replaced Apple as the most popular stock among hedge funds according to our database of 13F filings. 142 of the filers we track were long the bailed-out insurer going into 2013. Billionaire and Tiger Cub Stephen Mandel’s Lone Pine Capital initiated a position of almost 7 million shares between October and December (see Mandel's stock picks). Third more »

• Is AIG a Good Stock to Buy?

  By Meena Krishnamsetty - April 16, 2013 | Tickers: ACE, AIG, HIG, CB, TRV

  During the fourth quarter of 2012, American International Group (NYSE: AIG) replaced Apple as the most popular stock among hedge funds according to our database of 13F filings (find more stocks hedge funds loved). 142 of the filers which we track were long the bailed-out insurer going into 2013. Billionaire and Tiger Cub Stephen Mandel’s Lone Pine Capital initiated a position of almost 7 million shares between October and more »

• This Is The Best Business In The World

  By Shmulik Karpf - April 11, 2013 | Tickers: AIG, BRK-A, TRV, WRB

  I often find myself pondering what is the best business in the world. When I begin to weigh all the various possibilities, I usually turn to Warren Buffett for some advice on this topic. We all know that in his teachings, the sage of Omaha emphasized the importance of a wide economic moat, consistent earnings power and strong capital efficiency.

  Why insurance?

  I believe we can find several clues why more »

• This Is The Best Business In The World

  By Shmulik Karpf - April 5, 2013 | Tickers: AIG, BRK-A, TRV, WRB

  I often find myself pondering what is the best business in the world. When I begin to weigh all the various possibilities, I usually turn to Warren Buffett for some advice on this topic. We all know that in his teachings, the sage of Omaha emphasized the importance of a wide economic moat, consistent earnings power and strong capital efficiency.

  Why insurance?

  I believe we can find several clues why more »

• The Return of AIG: Deleveraged, Focused, and Undervalued

  By Jay Jenkins - April 1, 2013 | Tickers: AIG, ALL, TRV

  The markets still value American International Group (NYSE: AIG)  through the lens of 2008. But the AIG of today has materially improved its risk profile and generated financial results comparable to its peer group. Now is the time to invest, before the markets realize that today's AIG isn't the same company that got bailed out in September 2008.

  The biggest difference: simplified risk

  Over the past 5 years more »

• 3 Stocks to Exit Soon With Plunging Net Payout Yields

  By Mark Holder - April 1, 2013 | Tickers: CPB, CB, TRV

  With dividends and high yields in vogue these days, investors need to be careful that they don’t overpay for these stocks. Some of the stocks have performed so well over the last couple of quarters that their share prices have surged 30-50% during that time period, which is odd for multi-billion dollar consumer goods and insurance stocks.

  This issue faces the investors in Campbell Soup (NYSE: CPB), Chubb (NYSE: CBmore »)

• Buy Insurance to Ensure Profits

  By Ken McGaha - March 25, 2013 | Tickers: BRK-A, ALL, CB, TRV

  When looking for safe investment opportunities, it's really hard to find a better way to make money than to put yourself in a position to use other people’s money while they are paying you to hold it for them. Does that sound too good to be true? Would you believe it if it came from one of the richest men in the world?

  Well it did!

  “Meanwhile, we more »

• Is it Time to Buy Travelers Insurance?

  By Wes Patoka - March 25, 2013 | Tickers: ALL, TRV

  Minnesota based Travelers Insurance co. (NYSE: TRV) is a best of breed national Property & Casualty (P&C) insurance company. Insurance looks like a great place to invest now as premiums start to creep up across the board, and the industry continues to see consolidation of smaller players. The immense cost of maintaining the best underwriting databases is currently putting pressure on the industry to consolidate. National insurers like Travelers, Allstate more »

• This Great Company Still Has 3 Ways to Get Better

  By Chad Henage - March 15, 2013 | Tickers: AFL, AIG, ALL, TRV

  When investors consider a company, it makes sense to look for both strengths and weaknesses. The company's strengths need to be examined to determine if they are sustainable. On the other hand, if a company has a weakness, this could either be a problem to keep an eye on, or an area for improvement in the future. When I look at a company like Aflac (NYSE: AFL), I see more »

• How Does Markel Deal with Low Interest Rates?

  By Charles Lamb - March 10, 2013 | Tickers: MKL, TRV

  Insurance companies have been in the news lately as Warren Buffet’s comments in his annual letter to shareholders have reminded investors of the interest rate risk bore by all insurers. Interest rates are of particular concern to insurers as the investment portfolios of insurance companies are typically weighted heavily toward fixed income securities. With insurance companies facing the challenge of replacing maturing bonds in a low interest rate environment more »

• The Dow Sets a Record

  By Mark Morelli - March 5, 2013 | Tickers: HD, IBM, MCD, TRV, WMT

  It took nearly 2,000 days but it finally happened.

   

  On March 5, 2013 the Dow Jones Industrial Average set a record by closing at 12,254. The Dow's last all-time high was achieved on Oct. 9, 2007.

   

  The widely followed index of “blue-chip” stocks was basically flat over the last 5 ½ years, but if you had held stocks of 18 of the 30 companies that comprise the more »

• Insure Your Portfolio With This Stock

  By Robert Ciura - February 28, 2013 | Tickers: AFL, MET, TRV

  Insurance companies enjoy a two-sided business model: they earn cash from premiums paid on the policies they write and then again through investing the large pools of their accumulated capital. Many insurance companies are trading at attractive price-to-earnings and price-to-book valuations and also pay dividends to shareholders.  Unfortunately, the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy of historically low interest rates has kept a lid on the returns on capital most more »

• Hedge Fund Manager Kris Kristynik’s Favorite Investments for 2013

  By Meena Krishnamsetty - February 25, 2013 | Tickers: AON, CPB, RKT, TRV, WMT

  In the investing world, hedge fund sentiment is an underrated indicator that really can help retail investors beat the market. While the entire industry itself is comprised of thousands of hedge funds, we at Insider Monkey choose to track the top 450 or so—the smart money’s crème de la crème. We recently teamed up with MarketWatch to create the Billionaire Hedge Fund Index, and our small-cap strategy gained more »

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