Cincinnati Financial reports Q1 non-GAAP EPS $2.10, consensus $1.94

Reports Q1 revenue $2.86B vs. $2.57B last year. Book value per share was $101.60 from $102.35 at previous quarter end. CEO Stephen Spray commented: “We recorded $330M of non-GAAP operating income in Q1 compared to a loss of $37M a year ago. Q1 results for our insurance operations laid a nice foundation for us to build on for the rest of the year. Our 95.6% combined ratio improved almost 18 points from last year’s 113.3%. While lower catastrophe losses drove much of the improvement, we also saw a decline in our current accident year combined ratio before catastrophe losses – giving us confidence in the health of our overall book of business. As we continue to refine pricing segmentation and risk selection, we’ve lowered that ratio by 3 points compared with last year’s first quarter to 87.5%. Robust results from our investment operations also contributed. Pretax investment income rose $38M in Q1 as dividends from our equity portfolio increased 13% and bond interest income grew 12%.”