AIG Earnings and Revenue Exceed Expectations

AIG eported quarterly earnings and revenue on Thursday that xceeded analyst predictions.

American International Group Inc.'s (AIG) building located at 72 Wall Street in New York, U.S.
JB Reed | Bloomberg | Getty Images
American International Group Inc.'s (AIG) building located at 72 Wall Street in New York, U.S.

Higher prices in the insurer's property-casualty division and gains on investments in its life and retirement division reportedly led to a sharp rise in operating income.

The insurance company's shares dropped 2 percent following the news after the closing bell. (Click here to get real-time quotes for AIG.)

Earnings excluding items rose to $1.00 er share from a loss of $1.58 per share in the year-earlier period .

Third quarter net income came in at $1.9 billion, compared with a net loss of $4 billion in the same period last year.

Revenue eased 3.3 percent to $8.75 billion from $9.04 billion a year ago.

Wall Street had expected AIG to report earnings excluding items of 86 cents a share on $8.71 billion in revenue, according to Thomson Reuters consensus estimates.

AIG President CEO Robert Benmosche attributed the strong quarter to "continued strength of our core insurance operations and strong investment returns."

Regarding Hurricane Sandy, he said, "It is too early to provide an estimate of the financial impact of the storm."

Benmosche added that the bailed-out insurer's corporate headquarters in Manhattan is without power, but that business operations have been able to continue with little interruption.

Pending issues for the company are its aircraft-leasing business ILFC Holdings, about which Benmosche said he is still waiting for markets to improve before trying to take it public, and what to do with its remaining stake in the Asian insurer AIA.