XL Shares Rise as Profit Beats Estimates: New York Mover

XL Group Plc (XL) climbed the most in almost a year in New York trading after the insurer’s second- quarter profit beat analysts’ estimates as premium revenue increased.

XL jumped $1.36, or 6.4 percent, to $22.73 at 11:08 a.m., the biggest intraday gain since last August. The Dublin-based insurer has gained 15 percent since Dec. 31 and is up sixfold from the end of 2008, the year the stock plunged on losses tied to mortgage-market bets.

Operating profit in the three months ended June 30 was 71 cents a share, the company said late yesterday in a statement, beating by 16 cents the average estimate of 20 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Premium revenue increased 7.3 percent to $1.4 billion. The insurer earned 9.2 cents of underwriting profit for every premium dollar, up from 5.1 cents a year earlier.

“We view XL’s second-quarter results as strong, reflecting the company’s ongoing efforts at turning its business around,” Arun Kumar and Brett Gibson, credit analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co., said in a note today. “Highlights include notably improved underlying underwriting results.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Dan Kraut in New York at Dkraut2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dan Kraut at dkraut2@bloomberg.net