W.R. Berkley Corporation (WRB)

Financials · $28.2B market cap · SEC CIK 0000011544

Next reports on Jan 25, 2027, after the close, with analysts expecting $1.21 in earnings per share.

52-week range $62.87 to $79.26. 3% below its 52-week high and 22% above its low.

The case for WRB

• Reasonably priced for its growth: 15.1× earnings, where 10%+ a year of growth would justify about 23×.
• Has compounded revenue at 12.7% a year over five years.
• Return on equity of 19%.
• Moves less than the market (beta 0.21).

The case against

• Growth is slowing: revenue up 3.2% this year against 12.7% a year over five.
• Revenue growth of +3.2% is slower than 86% of Financials companies.

What the score is made of

Each factor is half a curve over reported figures and half a rank among the other Financials companies (momentum is judged against fixed thresholds only), and the five are blended by weight. The score is where that blend places it in the S&P 500. It describes the last filing and the current price. It is not a forecast.

• Its debt and cash flow are not scored, as for every company in the Financials sector: for banks, insurers and brokers, borrowing is the business.
• Its dividend figures disagree with each other (a 0.5% yield against about 3.3% implied by its payout ratio and P/E), so the dividend is not counted.
• Each factor except momentum is half fixed thresholds, half rank among the 76 Financials companies.

The financials

The financials, five years deep

Pulled from W.R. Berkley Corporation's XBRL filings on SEC EDGAR. Italic rows are worked out from the others.

What W.R. Berkley Corporation says it does

W. R. Berkley Corporation is an insurance holding company that is among the largest commercial lines writers in the United States and operates worldwide in two segments of the property casualty insurance business: • Insurance - Our Insurance businesses underwrite predominantly commercial insurance business, including excess and surplus lines, admitted lines and specialty personal lines throughout the United States, as well as insurance business in Asia, Australia, Canada, Continental Europe, Mexico, Scandinavia, South America and the United Kingdom. • Reinsurance & Monoline Excess - Our Reinsurance businesses provide facultative and treaty reinsurance in the United States, the Asia Pacific region, Australia, Continental Europe, South Africa and the United Kingdom, as well as operations that solely retain risk on an excess basis and certain program management business. Our two reporting segments are each composed of individual…

Risk factors WRB lists in its 10-K

• Our results may fluctuate as a result of many factors, including cyclical changes in the insurance and reinsurance industry
• We face significant competitive pressures in our businesses, which can pressure premium rates in certain areas and could harm our ability to maintain or increase our profitability and premium volume in some parts of our business
• Our actual claims losses may exceed our reserves for claims, which may require us to establish additional reserves
• The effects of emerging claim and coverage issues on our business are uncertain
• As a property casualty insurer, we face losses from natural and man-made catastrophes
• New or emerging pandemics, whether related to COVID-19 or otherwise, may materially and adversely affect our results of operations, financial position and liquidity in the future
• Changing climate conditions may alter the frequency and increase the severity of catastrophic events and thereby adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations
• We, as a primary insurer, may have significant exposure to terrorist acts
• We are exposed to, and may face adverse developments involving, mass tort claims
• We are subject to extensive governmental regulation, which increases our costs and could restrict the conduct of our business
• If market conditions cause reinsurance to be more costly or unavailable, we may be required to bear increased risks or reduce the level of our underwriting commitments
• Our expanding international operations expose us to increased investment, political, legal/regulatory, and economic risks, including foreign currency and credit risk
• We may be unable to attract and retain key personnel and qualified employees
• We cannot guarantee that our reinsurers will pay in a timely fashion, if at all, and, as a result, we could experience losses
• We are subject to credit risk relating to our policyholders, independent agents and brokers
• Our employees could take excessive risks, which could negatively affect our financial condition and business
• We are rated by A.M. Best, Standard & Poor's, Moody's, and Fitch, and a decline in these ratings could affect our standing in the insurance industry and cause our sales and earnings to decrease
• Depending on conditions in the financial markets and the general economy, we may be unable to raise debt or equity capital if needed
• We may not find suitable new insurance ventures and acquisition candidates and even if we do, we may not successfully invest in such ventures or successfully integrate any such acquired companies
• If our information technology, telecommunications or other computer systems become unavailable or unreliable, our ability to conduct our business could be negatively or severely impacted
• Failure to maintain the security of information technology systems and confidential data may expose us to liability
• Our increasing investment in and use of artificial intelligence technologies or their use by third-parties on which we rely could expose us to technological, security, legal, and other risks
• We could be adversely affected if our controls to ensure compliance with guidelines, policies and legal and regulatory standards are not effective
• Limitations in risk management and loss limitation methods may adversely impact our business
• Scrutiny of our social responsibility and the efforts we take to implement related measures, or the failure to take such measures, may adversely impact our business
• A significant amount of our assets is invested in fixed maturity securities and is subject to market fluctuations
• We are an insurance holding company and, therefore, may not be able to receive dividends in needed amounts

Filings

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