📈 Price History

Ratio Health

— Excellent

— Good

— Average

— Poor

By Category

📊 Sector Averages

About

W. R. Berkley Corporation, an insurance holding company, operates as a commercial line writer worldwide. The company operates through Insurance and Reinsurance & Monoline Excess segments. The Insurance segment underwrites commercial insurance business, including excess and surplus lines, admitted lines, and specialty personal lines. This segment also provides accident and health insurance and reinsurance products; insurance for commercial risks; casualty and specialty environmental products; insurance coverages for fine arts and jewelry exposures; excess liability and inland marine coverage for small to medium-sized insureds; and commercial general liability, umbrella, professional liability, directors and officers, commercial property, and surety products, as well as products for technology, and life sciences and travel industries. In addition, it offers cyber risk solutions; crime and fidelity insurance products; medical professional coverages; workers’ compensation insurance products; management liability and general insurance products; personal lines insurance solutions, including home, condo/co-op, auto, fine arts and collectibles, liability, collector vehicle, and recreational marine; law enforcement, public officials and educator's legal, and employment practices liability, as well as incidental medical, property, and crime insurance products; at-risk and alternative risk insurance program management services; professional liability; energy and marine risks; and insurance products to the Lloyd's marketplace. The Reinsurance & Monoline Excess segment provides treaty and facultative reinsurance solutions; property and casualty reinsurance products; facultative reinsurance products include automatic, semi-automatic, and individual risk assumed reinsurance; and turnkey products, such as cyber, employment practices liability insurance, liquor liability insurance and violent events. The company was founded in 1967 and is headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut.

Key Ratios Snapshot

📈 Growth Pattern

⚡ Latest Quarter —

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🔍 Concall Decoded

🎙 Management Tone Tracker Confident Specific → Stable 5 quarters analysed

Q2 2025

Confident Specific

Management led with concrete numbers (record premiums, 19.1% ROE, 20% operating ROE) and reiterated ability to generate 'high teens, low 20s' returns, but also used cautious language about macro risks (tariffs, labor costs) and competitive erosion in property and MGAs. The tone was assured about their underwriting discipline but guarded on near-term market conditions.

Q3 2025

Confident Specific

The call opened with strong financial metrics: 24.3% ROE, 40% net income increase, and record premiums earned. Management was specific about rate increases (7.6% ex-comp) and acknowledged market softening in property cat while asserting their discipline.

Q4 2025

Confident Specific

2025 was yet another great year... but auto liability continues to be a challenge, property cat market feeding frenzy.

Q1 2026

Confident Specific

Management expresses confidence in their cycle management and capital flexibility while explicitly acknowledging increasing market competition driven by greed, a notable shift in standard carrier appetite, and being taken aback by the pace of competitive change in property cat reinsurance. They balance positive results with specific warnings about pricing inadequacy in auto and some liability lines.

Q2 2026 latest

Confident Specific

Management repeatedly cites record or near-record specifics (EPS up 21% to $1.27, 20.5% ROE, record quarterly net investment income of $419M, $800M operating cash flow) and frames the 3.8% rate deceleration as a deliberate, pre-announced strategy — 'this is exactly what we said we were going to be doing when we talked last quarter.' Concerns about the MGU model and property market are stated bluntly ('going to end in tears') but consistently paired with assertions that WRB's segments remain 'full of sunshine.'

Guidance Reliability Pending · <3Q data

Investor Lens

The investment thesis is slightly stronger after this call: management delivered record or near-record earnings metrics while explicitly signaling a deliberate, controlled deceleration in pricing — a disciplined cycle-management playbook rather than a competitive capitulation. The combination of $800 million quarterly operating cash flow, a domestic book yield of 4.8% versus new money rates above 5%, and further duration runway supports continued net investment income growth. Watch items for next quarter: whether the 3.8% rate deceleration continues or steepens, whether the reinsurance segment's shrinking top line (down to $306M net premiums) stabilizes, expense ratio trajectory toward the 'modestly increasing' guidance, and any early signs of the predicted dislocation in MGU-led property or California workers' comp that could create opportunity. The main risk to the thesis is that decelerating rate meets accelerating loss costs before the loss-pick benefit materializes.

AI-generated concall tone analysis · Updated 2026-08-15 · Not investment advice

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🎙 Management Tone Confident Specific → Stable 5 quarters Full tone analysis in Intelligence →

Good quarter Investor Presentation One-Pager? Q2 2026

Revenue (Gross Premiums Written)

$4.14B

+4.2% YoY

Net Premiums Written

$3.43B

+2.4% YoY

Net Investment Income

$418.7M

+10.4% YoY

Operating Income

$497.1M

+18.2% YoY

Net Income

$452.3M

+12.7% YoY

Operating ROE

20.5%

+0.5pp YoY

What Went Right

Record quarterly net investment income of $418.7M, up 10.4%, with core portfolio income up 13% to $371M.
Operating EPS rose 21% to $1.27; pre-tax underwriting income jumped 21.8% to $317.5M.
Insurance gross premiums written hit a record $3.8B, up 5.4%, while CAT losses fell to $62M / 2.0 points from 3.2 points.

What to Watch

Management remains concerned about MGU/delegated authority proliferation, especially in shared/layered property, expecting eventual losses.
Rate increases decelerated to 3.8% ex-comp, with habitational and liquor liability seeing 20-30% rate cuts.
Reinsurance & Monoline Excess net premiums written fell to $306M due to heightened competition; property market may be lulled by benign CATs.

Management Guidance

No explicit numerical revenue or EPS guidance provided.
Expense ratio expected to remain comfortably below 30%, rising modestly over 2025 but held at 30% or better.
Rate increases are not expected to fall off considerably; improvement is possible and renewal retention is around 80%.
Investment income growth should continue as new-money yields comfortably start with 5% versus the 4.8% domestic book yield.

Investor Lens

The thesis is stronger after this call — record net investment income and 20.5% operating ROE show the model is compounding despite moderating pricing. Management remains disciplined by shrinking reinsurance and avoiding overheated MGU/property business, which should protect underwriting margins even if the cycle softens. Strong cash flow and reinvestment rates above the 4.8% book yield provide a clear catalyst for higher investment income. The main risk is if rate deceleration spreads beyond isolated casualty pockets or property losses normalise, pressuring the 88.1% ex-cat combined ratio.

From investor presentation · AI-generated analysis · Not investment advice

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📈 STRONG Record Q2: operating EPS $1.27 and 20.5% operating ROE.

Revenue

Q2 gross premiums written rose 4.2% to a record $4.14B; net premiums written rose 2.4% to $3.43B. Insurance segment gross premiums written grew 5.4% to $3.8B, while Reinsurance & Monoline Excess net premiums written fell to $306M on competition.

Profitability

Net income increased 12.7% to $452.3M, or $1.15 per diluted share, while operating income grew 18.2% to $497.1M, or $1.27 per diluted share. Pre-tax underwriting income rose 21.8% to $317.5M, and operating ROE came in at 20.5%.

Margins

The current accident year combined ratio excluding catastrophe losses was 88.1%, with calendar-year combined ratio of 90.0%. The loss ratio ex-CAT improved to 59.6% from 59.9% and the expense ratio was 28.5%; Insurance segment ex-CAT combined ratio came in at 89.3% and Reinsurance & Monoline Excess at 78.7%.

Balance Sheet

Stockholders' equity reached a record $9.8B and net invested assets grew to $34.2B. Q2 operating cash flow was $800M; total capital returned was $334M, including $223M of dividends and approximately $111M of share repurchases.

Key Risks

Management flagged proliferation of MGU/delegated-authority writers in property, rate cuts of 20-30% in habitational and liquor liability, and continued reinsurance competition. It also warned that benign CAT activity could lull the property market into a false sense of comfort.

Outlook

No numeric guidance was given, but management expects expense ratio to stay at or below 30% and investment income to keep rising as new-money yields exceed the 4.8% book yield. Insurance growth should continue while reinsurance remains under pricing pressure.

Generated by AI · Q2 2026 results · Not investment advice

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✓ 📞 Earnings Call Transcripts (5 quarters) submit a missing quarter

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📞 Earnings Call Transcripts (5)

Q2 2026 Q2 2026 2026-07-20

Operating earnings per share rose 21% year-over-year, driven by record investment income and strong underwriting. Insurance segment premiums grew mid-single digits, while reinsurance faced competitive pressure. Expense and loss ratios remained stable, and capital returns were robust.

Q1 2026 Q1 2026 2026-04-21

Record Q1 2026 results featured strong net income, investment gains, and underwriting profits, with a 21.2% return on equity. Management is shifting focus from rate to growth in select lines amid rising competition, while maintaining robust capital returns and flexibility.

Q4 2025 Q4 2025 2026-01-26

Record earnings and strong underwriting drove robust 2025 results, with disciplined capital returns and ongoing tech investments positioning the company for continued growth. Market challenges persist in auto liability and property, but opportunities remain in casualty, A&H, and private client segments.

Q3 2025 Q3 2025 2025-10-20

Net income rose nearly 40% year-over-year, driven by strong underwriting and investment income, with record premiums and robust capital position. Management remains focused on risk-adjusted returns amid increasing competition and market flux.

Q2 2025 Q2 2025 2025-07-21

Q2 2025 saw strong underwriting and investment results, with net income up 8.7% year-over-year and record premiums and investment income. Growth guidance was adjusted to 8–12% amid increased property competition, but management remains confident in sustaining high returns.

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