Lincoln National Corp. (LNC) reported operating earnings of 84 cents in the third quarter, which was ahead of the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 80 cents. The company had earned $1.16 per share on an operating basis in the year-ago quarter.   The company experienced lower average variable account values compared to the prior-year period. Also, there were some modest losses on its alternative investments.   Lincoln reported a net income of $153 million or 44 cents per share compared with $148 million or 58 cents in the year-ago quarter. We note that there were fewer shares outstanding in the prior-year quarter.   The company managed to report better operating results on a quarter-over-quarter basis due to the appreciation in the equity market. Consolidated deposits increased 10% sequentially but were down 2% year over year to $5.3 billion. Net flows were up 25% sequentially and 34% year over year ...

Torchmark(TMK) reported third quarter operating earnings of $1.48 per share compared to $1.51 per share in the year-ago quarter. Results were affected by lower underwriting as well as lower excess investment income. Life premium revenue was $414.4 million versus $406.1 million in the prior year period. This was due to strong L ife sales in the quarter, primarily driven by the growth in its distribution channels: American Income Agency and Direct Response. Net sales of life insurance increased 9% year-over-year. Life insurance accounted for 72% of the company's insurance underwriting margin for the quarter and 62% of total premium revenue. Health premium revenue was $247.8 million versus $272.4 million in the prior year quarter, led by a decline in health sales. The company has experienced a drop in its LNL Agency. Health sales, excluding Medicare Part D, fell 39% year-over-year. Excess investment income − a ...

Developers Diversified Realty Corp. (DDR), a real estate investment trust (REIT), reported relatively weak third quarter results, with FFO (fund from operations) of ($90.1) million or (54 cents) per share compared to $96.7 million or 80 cents per share in the year-earlier quarter. Fund from operations, a widely used metric to gauge the performance of REITs, is obtained after adding depreciation and amortization and other non-cash expenses to net income. 
 The decrease in year-over-year FFO was primarily due to the non-recurring charges of $164.6 million primarily related to the non-cash impairment charges and non-cash loss related to the Otto investment. Excluding one-time charges, FFO in the third quarter was $74.5 million or 44 cents per share.

Despite challenging market conditions, Developers Diversified executed strong leasing activities during the quarter. The company signed 146 new leases and 287 renewal leases spanning over 0.7 million square feet and 1.9 million square

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This is a guest contribution by Damien Hoffman, editor-in-chief of the very popular Wall St Cheat Sheet blog. Make sure to put this site on your must-read list.

John Mauldin coined the incredibly popular phrase, “Muddle Through Economy.” If the next few years continue to drag along as we rebuild from the greatest credit bubble in history, then John’s term may become the catch phrase used by every financial journalist and economist in the land.

John is a passionate traveler with business partners all over the world. He also puts out a free newsletter to over one million people world-wide. This reach of friends and travels gives John an excellent macro view of the world economy. Further, his

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Sony Life Insurance Co. and major Dutch insurer AEGON Group (AEG) stated their joint venture in Japan has got a life insurance business license from the Financial Services Agency (FSA). The collaboration will start business operations in December.   The new company will be known as AEGON Sony Life Insurance Co. (ASLIC) with equal equity ownership of Sony Life and AEGON. ASLIC will sell variable annuity insurance products.   The intention to establish the life insurance company was announced on Jan 25, 2007. The joint venture had originally planned to begin sales in 2008. But the global financial crisis prompted the FSA to adopt tougher regulations, forcing the venture to postpone its business operations.   To help prepare for a comfortable post-retirement life, the demand for variable annuities is expected to grow among the aging population in Japan. Japan is one of the most rapidly aging societies with ...

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – August 27, 2009 – Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: China Life Insurance Company (LFC), American International Group (AIG), Deutsche Bank (DB), Morgan Stanley (MS) and Amgen (AMGN).

Get the most recent insight from Zacks Equity Research with the free Profit from the Pros newsletter: http://at.zacks.com/?id=5513

Here are highlights from Wednesday’s Analyst Blog:

China Life’s Profits Grow

China Life Insurance Company (LFC), the leading life insurer in China, has posted a 15% rise in profits in the first half of 2009 compared to the prior-year period. The company earned 18.2 billion yuan ($2.7 billion) in the first half

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China Life Insurance Company (LFC), the leading life insurer in China, has posted a 15% rise in profits in the first half of 2009 compared to the prior-year period. The company earned 18.2 billion yuan ($2.7 billion) in the first half of 2009 driven by gains realized on financial investments. The gains stemmed from the capital market rally in China. Gross yield on its investments in the period was up 3.27% from 2.31%. Gross written premiums and policy fees were up 11% to 87.86 billion yuan. The increase was mainly attributable to an increase in its insurance business. Renewal premiums grew 23% year-over-year, while the proportion of renewal premiums to gross written premiums increased to 66.84% in the first half of 2009 from 60.44% in the year-ago period. The company said that it may invest in AIA, which is planning a Hong Kong initial public offering ...

The following appeared in the August edition of Business Diary Botswana. Right now I find myself fascinated by the role that securitization and a mature credit derivatives market will ultimately play in frontier economies; as J.P. Morgan once penned, “credit derivatives allow even the most illiquid credit exposures to be transferred to the most efficient holders of that risk.” Despite its perils (notably the lack of respect issuers had for the potential correlation on mortgage defaults), it is my belief that the underlying concept supporting derivatives is a sound one if handled correctly. As wealth continues to flow to developing markets in the coming decades, so too will the management of risk continue to mature.

Back in late March, not long after the S&P registered its ominous 666 low, an understandably seething writer in The New York Times charged that above all, the “key promise” of

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Recently I had the opportunity to meet with one of the most excitable options traders and educators in Las Vegas…his name is Mark Longo and he’s the founder and main options guy at TheOptionsInsider.com. I was able to spend about 45 minutes just chatting with him about what’s going on in the options world, what’s new with his site, and everything he said about options made perfect sense. Almost as if he actually knew what he was talking about! Come to find out later in the conversation he knew what he was talking about, and he’s an authority on options…egg on my face! TheOptionsInsider.com is a great FREE resource for all things options and with Mark at the helm you won’t be led astray. Please enjoy the article (as I read it twice), comment below, and visit TheOptionsInsider.com today!

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We are seeing a familiar refrain in

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The Treasury Department has proposed regulating derivatives like CDS by forcing the bulk of them on to centralized exchanges (see http://www.treas.gov/press/releases/tg261.htm for the summary, or if you are really ambitious, here is the link to the actual proposed legislation http://www.financialstability.gov/docs/regulatoryreform/titleVII.pdf). Thus all standardized derivatives would start to resemble the market for equity options.

The move would greatly reduce the possibility of a cascading wave of cross defaults if one major player were to fail. This is precisely the situation that was faced last fall with the collapse of American International Group (AIG).

It was the fear of that domino effect that caused the Federal Government to throw $180 billion at AIG. Most of that money went straight out the back door to fulfill AIG's CDS swap obligations. Over $12 billion of that went to Goldman Sachs (GS), who's chairman was the only private sector person at the

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