Posted on 01/20/2005 8:55:51 AM PST by SierraWasp
Progressive's growth continues to slow
By Alistair Barr, CBS MarketWatch Last Update: 11:38 AM ET Jan. 20, 2005
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS.MW) -- Progressive Corp., the third-largest auto insurer in the United States, said Thursday that premium growth slowed in December compared with the previous month, continuing a trend that began last year.
Progressive (PGR: news, chart, profile) , which reports results monthly, said net written premiums came in at $1.14 billion in December.
Excluding an extra week that the insurer included in its December results, net written premium growth was 5 percent last month compared with December 2003, the company said. That's below previous months: In November, net written premiums advanced 7 percent from a year earlier, while in October premiums climbed 9 percent.
Shares of the Mayfield Village, Ohio-based insurer declined $1.28, or 1.5 percent, to $84.14 in morning trading Thursday.
"Growth continued to slow in the company's personal lines business," Progressive said in a statement.
"Three markets in which the company writes personal lines business were unprofitable for the month," it added. "For the year, all personal lines markets were profitable."
Progressive's main business is personal auto insurance, which accounts for more than three quarters of its premiums. After several years of rising prices and lower-than-expected claims, auto insurers are flush with capital and are using that money to compete on price to gain market share.
That presents a choice for companies: They can either reduce their prices or risk losing customers to rivals.
Safeco Corp. (SAFC: news, chart, profile) , a smaller competitor to Progressive, said Wednesday that it probably won't meet growth targets this year because competition is heating up. See full story.
For the fourth quarter, Progressive said net income was $413.5 million, or $2.01 per share, up 16 percent from $357.8 million, or $1.63 a share, a year earlier.
The fourth-quarter combined ratio -- which measures the cost of claims and expenses as a percentage of premiums -- was 85.5 in the period versus 85.9 a year ago.
Vengence Ping!!!
What bout Heinz? If even a few percentage of Republicans stopped buying their products, it would have a noticeable impact. I, for one, have stopped buying Heinz stuff. Ffor what it's worth, I have found that Braum's ketchup is better anyway.
Ain't the FRee market a beautious thing? ;-)
I love it.
It's bonehead-stupid to give your company a name that will make half the country not want to do business with you.
Red companies to patronize:
Best Buy Co., Inc. 100%
Cintas Corporation 100%
Dollar General Corporation 100%
Fruit of the Loom 100%
Lowe's Companies, Inc. 100%
Outback Steakhouse, Inc. 98%
CBRL Group, Inc. 96%
Geico 95%
Darden Restaurants, Inc. 91%
Circuit City Stores, Inc. 90%
Saks Incorporated 89%
J. C. Penney Company, Inc. 88%
Kroger Co. 88%
Hallmark Cards, Inc. 86%
Adolph Coors Company 84%
Brinker International, Inc. 84%
Limited Brands, Inc. 84%
Marriott International, Inc. 83%
Shell Oil Company 83%
Southwest Airlines Co. 82%
YUM! Brands, Inc. 79%
May Department Stores Company 78%
Continental Airlines, Inc. 75%
InterContinental Hotels Group PLC 75%
Guess?, Inc 73%
Safeway Inc. 70%
Sears, Roebuck and Co. 68%
Walgreen Co. 65%
Amazon.com, Inc. 59%
Delta Air Lines, Inc. 57%
Blue Companies to avoid:
Aloha Air Group, Inc. 0%
American Apparel, LLC 0%
Borders Group, Inc. 0%
CompUSA Inc. 0%
Diamond Resorts International 0%
Foot Locker, Inc 0%
Fry's Electronics, Inc. 0%
Google Inc. 0%
Hard Rock Cafe International, Inc. 0%
Hawaiian Holdings, Inc. 0%
Loews Hotels Holding Corporation 0%
Powell's Books, Inc. 0%
Progressive Corporation 0%
Sonic Corp. 0%
Starbucks Corporation 0%
Trader Joe's Company, Inc. 0%
Whole Foods Market, Inc. 0%
Costco Wholesale Corporation 1%
Bed, Bath & Beyond Inc 3%
Hyatt Hotels and Resorts 7%
Sharper Image Corporation 7%
Hilton Hotels Corporation 16%
Gap Inc. 20%
JetBlue Airways Corporation 25%
Netflix, Inc 28%
Triarc Companies, Inc. 41%
Brown-Forman Corporation 43%
UAL Corporation 49%
Kmart Holding Corporation 50%
Yahoo! Inc. 53%
Alaska Air Group, Inc. 55%
AMR Corporation 55%
A lot of rat owned and controlled business will have a tough 4 years as more Americans become aware of their Michael Moore behavior.
you forgot Hooters - a VERY "red" company.
What's the story with Progressive? Why is this a good thing?
What are the percentages, the percentage of the political contributions by their executives that went to Republicans?
And where is WalMart? The Waltons are huge Republicans.
It's a rating I got off a website. (It's a blue website, I reversed them!) Many of the companies are rated for executives who give money to Republicans, but not all.
We dumped them.
Amazing.
I don't believe I've used any "blue" product, 'cept for Yahoo and Google.
Because... They contibuted mucho denars to try to sink Dubya in favor of ol horseface!!! That's why!!!
Wow! I had no idea that Progressive did that. I am going to look for another company now that I do.
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