Hello, Thanks for signing up for MarketBeat Daily Ratings—we’re excited to have you on board. Every weekday, you’ll get a curated summary of new “Buy” and “Sell” ratings from Wall Street’s top-rated analysts, the latest stock news, and bonus investing content—all delivered straight to your inbox. You’re just two quick steps away from completing your sign-up: 1. Make sure our emails go to your inboxGmail users:
Mobile: Tap the three dots (…) in the top right and select Move to Inbox or Move to Primary
Desktop: Click the folder icon at the top and select Move to Inbox or Primary Apple Mail users:
Tap our email address at the top (next to From: on mobile), then select Add to VIP Other providers:
Reply to this message and add newsletters@analystratings.net to your contacts 2. Confirm your subscriptionClick this link to confirm your subscription. This verifies your account and ensures you receive your newsletters without interruption instead of getting stuck in your spam filter. Confirm your subscription here. After you confirm, feel free to download our popular free report, "7 Stocks to Buy and Hold Forever" with this link. Thanks again for subscribing—we look forward to being part of your investing journey. 
Matthew Paulson
Founder and CEO, MarketBeat. P.S. If you didn’t mean to subscribe, no problem—you can unsubscribe here.
This Month's Exclusive News
3 Insurance Stocks That Can Act as a New Inflation HedgeAuthored by Chris Markoch. Publication Date: 4/16/2026. 
Key Points
- Insurance companies benefit from inflation by raising premiums, giving the sector strong pricing power and making it a potential hedge against rising costs.
- Travelers and Chubb offer steady growth supported by premium pricing strategies and strong earnings outlooks despite rising catastrophe risks.
- Progressive’s recent underperformance has created a discounted valuation, which could present upside if earnings growth reaccelerates.
- Special Report: Elon Musk’s $1 Quadrillion AI IPO
Insurance has become one of the most visible and persistent indicators of inflation in household budgets. Rates for health, auto, life, and property insurance have been soaring — trends that preceded the recent shock to energy prices. The latest consumer price index data reflected the impact of higher energy prices, showing year-over-year inflation of 12.5%. That compounds the challenge for consumers trying to budget for higher costs at a time when fixed expenses, such as insurance, are already elevated.
Most people overcomplicate trading, chasing ten indicators, 20-year-old gurus, and seventeen secret systems, and somehow end up more confused than when they started. I found one setup—just one—that kept showing up every morning at the same time, same pattern, same opportunity, and it worked often enough that I stopped trying to reinvent the wheel. By 10 AM, I'm usually done for the day, no drama, no 14-hour trading sessions, just one repeatable moment that anyone with a laptop can learn to spot. Get your free Opening Bell Breakouts trade guide here
While consumers often blame corporate greed, the situation is more nuanced. Insurance companies manage risk, and currently nearly every cost involved in assessing that risk is rising. Inflation is part of the story, but so are increasingly severe climate events, reinsurance hikes and higher litigation costs. Rising energy prices add supply-chain pressure and elevate catastrophe risk in energy-exposed regions, which exacerbates the problem. As a result, insurers are repricing premiums faster than policy renewals can absorb those costs. That pricing pressure is painful for policyholders, but for investors it can be a tailwind. Below are three insurance stocks at different stages of the pricing cycle, giving them differing outlooks as potential inflation hedges. Travelers Leans Into Pricing Power Despite Rising Catastrophe RiskTravelers Companies (NYSE: TRV) has been one of the better-performing insurance stocks in the financials sector. It’s up about 20% over the past 12 months, though growth has slowed in 2026, with TRV up roughly 3% so far this year. The company posted a double beat when it reported Q4 2025 earnings on Jan. 21. However, Travelers also lowered its Catastrophe Excess of Loss (CAT XOL) attachment point to $3 billion from $4 billion — a reinsurance threshold that protects the company against very large catastrophe losses. Lowering the CAT XOL can be seen as a prudent move, but it signals that Travelers expects a rougher catastrophe environment. The company has maintained that this change won't create a reinsurance problem, yet investors appear unconvinced. TRV is trading just below its consensus one-year price target of $308, and analysts remain generally bullish — likely reflecting expectations of about 35% earnings growth over the next 12 months. Additionally, Travelers offers a competitive dividend among the three companies discussed: the current yield is roughly 1.5%, equal to an annual payout of $4.40 per share. After increasing its payout for 21 consecutive years, the company is eyeing membership in the Dividend Aristocrats club. Chubb’s Premium Base Positions It for Margin ExpansionChubb (NYSE: CB) presents a similar case to Travelers. The stock is up about 15% over the last 12 months and roughly 5% in 2026. Shares of CB sit within about 6% of their consensus one-year price target of $345.33. The company delivered strong Q4 2025 results, reporting net income of $3.21 billion — nearly 25% higher year over year. Like Travelers, Chubb also cited some catastrophe risk that could affect the balance sheet in 2026. Analysts remain bullish, with several recent price targets for CB well above the consensus. That likely reflects Chubb’s focus on specialized commercial and high-net-worth personal lines, which command higher margins than standard insurance. Many of those policies may not yet have fully priced inflation into renewals, which could translate into earnings acceleration above the ~16% analysts expect over the next 12 months. Progressive’s Pullback May Be Creating a Value OpportunityProgressive (NYSE: PGR) has lagged its peers. PGR is down more than 10% in 2026 and more than 25% over the past 12 months. That decline stems in part from the company being a victim of its own success: many recall 2021 and 2022, when inflation in used car prices, repair parts and labor hit auto insurers simultaneously. Progressive was well-positioned to manage that surge because it had already been raising premiums. Instead of losing customers, it aggressively marketed and won a large share of new business. Since 2022, however, Progressive has lost some of that business as competitors — including Travelers and Chubb — have repriced their books and become more aggressive on pricing. As a result, Progressive has seen slower premium growth, and the market has priced in continued deceleration. Shares of PGR now trade at roughly 10x earnings, a steep de-rating compared with its three-year average (about a 64% discount) and a slight discount to the sector average near 12x. That level of de-rating suggests Progressive may offer better value than its peers. Analysts have a consensus one-year price target of $237 for PGR, implying nearly 20% potential upside. Those targets could move higher if Progressive delivers earnings growth above the roughly 4.9% forecast for the next 12 months. |
