Insurance and financial services company The Hartford (NYSE: HIG) reported Q1 CY2026 results exceeding the market’s revenue expectations, with sales up 6.1% year on year to $7.23 billion. Its non-GAAP profit of $3.09 per share was 8.8% below analysts’ consensus estimates.
Is now the time to buy Hartford? Find out by accessing our full research report, it’s free.
Hartford (HIG) Q1 CY2026 Highlights:
- Net Premiums Earned: $6.15 billion vs analyst estimates of $4.56 billion (flat year on year, 34.7% beat)
- Revenue: $7.23 billion vs analyst estimates of $5.16 billion (6.1% year-on-year growth, 40% beat)
- Combined Ratio: 92.6% vs analyst estimates of 91.1% (147.8 basis point miss)
- Adjusted EPS: $3.09 vs analyst expectations of $3.39 (8.8% miss)
- Book Value per Share: $67.50 vs analyst estimates of $76.05 (16.6% year-on-year growth, 11.2% miss)
- Market Capitalization: $37.98 billion
Company Overview
Recognizable by its iconic stag logo that dates back to 1810, The Hartford (NYSE: HIG) provides property and casualty insurance, group benefits, and investment products to individuals and businesses across the United States.
Revenue Growth
Big picture, insurers generate revenue from three key sources. The first is the core business of underwriting policies. The second source is income from investing the “float” (premiums collected upfront not yet paid out as claims) in assets such as fixed-income assets and equities. The third is fees from various sources such as policy administration, annuities, or other value-added services. Over the last five years, Hartford grew its revenue at a mediocre 6.6% compounded annual growth rate. This was below our standard for the insurance sector and is a poor baseline for our analysis.
We at StockStory place the most emphasis on long-term growth, but within financials, a half-decade historical view may miss recent interest rate changes, market returns, and industry trends. Hartford’s annualized revenue growth of 7.2% over the last two years aligns with its five-year trend, suggesting its demand was consistently weak. 
Note: Quarters not shown were determined to be outliers, impacted by outsized investment gains/losses that are not indicative of the recurring fundamentals of the business.
This quarter, Hartford reported year-on-year revenue growth of 6.1%, and its $7.23 billion of revenue exceeded Wall Street’s estimates by 40%.
Net premiums earned made up 89.9% of the company’s total revenue during the last five years, meaning Hartford barely relies on non-insurance activities to drive its overall growth.
While insurers generate revenue from multiple sources, investors view net premiums earned as the cornerstone - its direct link to core operations stands in sharp contrast to the unpredictability of investment returns and fees.
ONE MORE THING: The $21 AI Application Stock Wall Street Forgot. While Wall Street obsesses over who’s building AI, one company is already using it to print money. And nobody’s paying attention.
AI chip stocks trade at ridiculous valuations. This company processes a trillion consumer signals monthly using AI and trades at a third of the price. The gap won’t last. The institutions will figure it out. You need to see this first. Read the FREE Report Before They Notice.
Book Value Per Share (BVPS)
Insurance companies are balance sheet businesses, collecting premiums upfront and paying out claims over time. The float – premiums collected but not yet paid out – are invested, creating an asset base supported by a liability structure. Book value captures this dynamic by measuring:
- Assets (investment portfolio, cash, reinsurance recoverables) - liabilities (claim reserves, debt, future policy benefits)
BVPS is essentially the residual value for shareholders.
We therefore consider BVPS very important to track for insurers and a metric that sheds light on business quality because it reflects long-term capital growth and is harder to manipulate than more commonly-used metrics like EPS.
Hartford’s BVPS grew at a mediocre 6.8% annual clip over the last five years. However, BVPS growth has accelerated recently, growing by 15.1% annually over the last two years from $50.99 to $67.50 per share.
Over the next 12 months, Consensus estimates call for Hartford’s BVPS to grow by 25.3% to $76.05, elite growth rate.
Key Takeaways from Hartford’s Q1 Results
We were impressed by how significantly Hartford blew past analysts’ net premiums earned expectations this quarter. We were also excited its revenue outperformed Wall Street’s estimates by a wide margin. On the other hand, its book value per share missed and its EPS fell short of Wall Street’s estimates. Overall, this quarter could have been better. The stock traded down 4.4% to $133.57 immediately after reporting.
Hartford’s earnings report left more to be desired. Let’s look forward to see if this quarter has created an opportunity to buy the stock. We think that the latest quarter is only one piece of the longer-term business quality puzzle. Quality, when combined with valuation, can help determine if the stock is a buy. We cover that in our actionable full research report which you can read here (it’s free).
