AFLAC Reliant on Japanese Biz

Tags: afl
9 Dec 10:27pm
Posted by ZacksResearch
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AFLAC Inc.'s (AFL) 3Q08 operating earnings of $493 million or $1.02 per diluted share were one penny ahead of our estimate and two pennies ahead of consensus, based on better-than-expected sales growth in its Japan operations.

We anticipate modest improvement in AFL's Japan sales (which accounted for roughly 83% of its total revenue in 3Q08), as sales through the new channels (banks and the Japan Post network) gather momentum in the coming quarters, but the economic slowdown will hurt the U.S. sales.

Further, increased losses in the investment portfolio will continue to impact the results. After reviewing the results, we are slightly increasing our FY08 and FY09 estimates but maintaining our Hold rating on the shares of AFL.

Kalyan Nandy contributed to this report.

Read the full analyst report on AFL




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