CNO Net Income Jumps to $161.1 Million, Raises 2026 Earnings Guidance
Key Facts
CNO Financial reported net income of $161.1 million in the third quarter of 2026, compared with $23.1 million in the same period a year earlier, while operating net income rose to $179.1 million from $127.2 million, according to the company’s filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The company raised its full-year operating earnings-per-share guidance range to $5.05–$5.15, an increase of 9% at the midpoint from its previous guidance, according to the results statement issued on October 29. Chief Executive Gary Bhojwani said operating earnings per share rose 47% during the quarter, describing the company’s performance as an "excellent quarter." Bhojwani linked earnings growth to momentum, discipline and improved profitability, according to management’s comments in the statement. The filing did not include a comparison with analyst estimates, so the reported figures focus on the company’s results and comparison with the year-earlier period.
Operating income improved despite a decline in total revenue to $1,086.0 million from $1,188.7 million a year earlier, according to the consolidated financial statements. By contrast, insurance policy income rose to $688.2 million from $658.4 million in the third quarter of 2025. The divergence shows that insurance income followed a different trajectory from total revenue during the period, without implying growth in revenue overall. The company also said the net positive impact of significant items related to its annual actuarial review was $44.9 million, or $0.48 per diluted share, in the third quarter. Those items added $32.2 million, or $0.33 per diluted share, in the year-earlier period.
On return measures, return on equity was 16.4%, while operating return on equity, excluding significant items, was 14.1%, according to the results statement. Book value per diluted share, excluding accumulated other comprehensive income losses, was $41.29 as of September 30, 2026, up 8% year over year. The company said total new annualized premiums rose for the seventeenth consecutive quarter. The number of producing agents also grew for the fifteenth consecutive quarter in the Consumer segment and for the seventeenth quarter in Worksite. These indicators place the trajectory of sales and distribution alongside the income and return results the company reported for the quarter.
In a reinsurance-related move, CNO completed its third transaction with its wholly owned Bermuda subsidiary on October 1, covering the reinsurance of about $270 million in statutory reserves for graded-benefit life policies at Colonial Penn. The company included the transaction in information accompanying its third-quarter results. As for the stock, CNO shares closed at $55.17 on October 29 and then at $57.67 on October 30, according to daily price data provided by EL7. The results statement said a call to discuss third-quarter results would be held on October 30, 2026, at 11:00 a.m. Eastern time. The available information did not include details of the call’s results.