FBL Financial Group (FFG)

[AlexG]

i love this stock

what it does...

provides life insurance to small farmers and small businesses mainly in the midwest
great niche
:P
Management...
52% is still owned by insiders especially the Iowa Farm Beureau Federation


I currently have it at $40 currently trading @ lower 30's range but i do not plan to sell anytime soon
:lol:

[AlexG]

also while Cap Ex have been steady between the 18 and 20 million range net income has risen steadily creating some positive cash flow which i love :lol:

[Justin]

EPS has been sideways at best and Equity growth has been getting hammered pretty much across the board. Since Rule #1 states we estimate future eps growth based on past equity growth, we cant even come to a solid MOS on this one. But for the sake of discussion, we could throw the analysts growth rate of 10% in there, but even then the MOS is around $10 while its trading at over $30.

Im not saying a person couldnt make money with this stock, but its definately lacking in terms of a rule one investment.

FBL Financial Group, Inc. sells individual life and annuity products principally under the consumer brand names Farm Bureau Financial Services and EquiTrust Financial Services. These brands are represented by the distribution channels of the Company's subsidiaries, Farm Bureau Life Insurance Company (Farm Bureau Life) and EquiTrust Life Insurance Company (EquiTrust Life). In addition to its Farm Bureau Life and EquiTrust Life distribution channels, the Company has two closed blocks of coinsurance business and its variable products are marketed by four variable alliance partner companies. The Company aggregated its operations into four product segments: Traditional Annuity, Exclusive Distribution (Exclusive Annuity); Traditional Annuity, Independent Distribution (Independent Annuity); Traditional and Universal Life Insurance, and Variable. FBL also has various support operations and corporate capital that are aggregated into a Corporate and Other segment.

[AlexG]

ROIC may be hammered but by no means do u analyze a insurance company by ROIC , just the same way u wouldnt analyze a bank by its cash flow

Banks get analyzed by deposits, and especially ROE, Wells Fargo is top notch when it comes to ROE avg 18%+

Insurance companies are characterized by the float of the company

Float- Insurance premiums that have been collected, but not yet distributed as payments for insured losses

As far as insurance companies having no moat, all of them do , FFG has a moat as its one of very few companies that insure farmers and small businesses in the midwest

if insurance companies didnt have a moat Warren Buffett would not invest in more than 5
* Geico
* General Re
* Kansas Bankers Surety Company
* National Indemnity Company
* Wesco Financial Corporation
* Applied Underwriters Inc.
just to name a few 8)

please lets compare apples with oranges as one way of measuring a industry does not always use the same measurements in other industries ( as stated above you cannot analyze a bank and a retailer the same way