CNO Financial Beats Q2 Earnings Estimates on Higher Collected Premiums

CNO Financial Group, Inc. CNO reported second-quarter 2026 adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $1.26, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 27.3%. The bottom line rose from 87 cents a year ago.

Operating revenues of $1.3 billion advanced 13% year over year. The top line surpassed the consensus mark by 32%.

The strong quarterly results were supported by strong collected premiums from annuity, life and health products along with a notable rise in net investment income. Nevertheless, the upside was partly offset by a rise in total benefits and expenses as a result of higher insurance policy benefits.

CNO Financial Group, Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

CNO Financial Group, Inc. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | CNO Financial Group, Inc. Quote

CNO's Q2 Performance

Total insurance policy income rose 4.5% year over year to $680.7 million, higher than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $660 million. The metric was aided by improved collected premiums from annuity, life and health products.

Net investment income was $597 million, which improved from the year-ago period of $483.7 million. General account assets grew 8.9% year over year to $411.9 million. Policyholder and other special-purpose portfolios totaled $185.1 million compared with the prior-year quarter’s $105.4 million.

Fee revenues and other income declined 36.4% year over year to $22.2 million.

Annuity collected premiums of $536 million rose 3% year over year, while health collected premiums increased 5.5% to $432 million. Collected premiums from life products totaled $249.3 million, which rose 1.5% year over year. The total collected premiums advanced 3.6% year over year to $1.2 billion.

New annualized premiums for health products rose 18.2% year over year, while the same for life products declined 3.8%. Annuity, Health and Life products accounted for 21.7%, 52.8% and 25.5%, respectively, of CNO's insurance margin.

Total benefits and expenses rose 8.9% year over year to $1.1 billion due to higher insurance policy benefits.

CNO’s Financial Update (As of June 30, 2026)

CNO Financial exited the second quarter with unrestricted cash and cash equivalents of $1.3 billion, which rose 68.4% from the 2025-end level.

Total assets of $39.9 billion rose 6.8% from the figure at 2025-end.

The debt-to-capital was 34% at the second-quarter end, which deteriorated 40 basis points (bps) from the 2025-end figure.

Total shareholders’ equity declined 1.8% from the 2025-end level to $2.6 billion.

Book value per common share was $27.96, which increased 0.1% from the figure at 2025-end.

Operating return on equity, excluding significant items, improved 190 bps year over year to 13.1% at the second-quarter end.

CNO Financial’s Share Repurchase & Dividend Update

CNO Financial rewarded its shareholders with $60 million in the form of share buybacks and $16.8 million in dividends during the second quarter.

As of June 30, 2026, the company had a leftover repurchase capacity of $300.4 million.

CNO Revises 2026 Guidance

CNO Financial raised its full-year 2026 guidance, indicating confidence in the current operating trajectory. The company now expects operating EPS to be in the range of $4.60-$4.80, up from the previously guided range of $4.25-$4.45. The mid-point of which now indicates a 6.8% increase from the 2025 reported figure of $4.40.

For 2026, management still anticipates excess cash flow of $200-$250 million to the holding company.

The company now projects the expense ratio to be in the band of 18.8-19% for 2026. It estimates the effective tax rate to be around 21.5%. Management still aims to achieve leverage within the band of 25-28%.

CNO’s Zacks Rank

CNO currently has a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).

You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

How Did Peers Perform?

Here are some stocks from the broader finance space that have also reported their quarterly results: RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. RNR, Aon plc AON and The Hartford Insurance Group, Inc. HIG. Here's how they have performed:

RenaissanceRe reported second-quarter 2026 operating income of $12.92 per share, which surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 12.9%.  The bottom line also improved 5.1% year over year. Total operating revenues declined 6.7% year over year to $2.64 billion. The quarterly earnings benefited from lower expenses, higher net investment income and an improved total combined ratio. However, RNR’s upside was partly offset by lower net premiums earned, weaker underwriting results in the Casualty & Specialty segment and lower fee income.

Aon reported second-quarter 2026 adjusted earnings of $3.81 per share, which surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 1.1%. The bottom line advanced 9% year over year. Total revenues of $4.2 billion grew 2% year over year. AON’s quarterly results were supported by strong organic revenue growth, healthy client retention, operating margin expansion and disciplined execution. Solid performance across the Commercial Risk, Reinsurance and Health Solutions businesses was partly offset by weakness in Wealth Solutions.

Hartford delivered second-quarter fiscal 2026 earnings per share of $3.42, up 6% year over year and above the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3.12 by 9.6%. Revenues came in at $5.23 billion, which improved 6.8% year over year. HIG’s quarterly results benefited from higher investment income, premium growth in Business Insurance and improving Personal Insurance profitability. Strong new business expansion in Small Business and favorable pricing trends supported results. However, the upside was partly offset by an increased expense level, higher catastrophe losses and weaker Employee Benefits profitability.

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