Reinsurance Group of America Earnings Preview

Reinsurance Group of America (NYSE: RGA  ) beat estimates by $0.17 last quarter and investors are hoping it can beat them again. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Monday, Jan. 30. Reinsurance Group of America is an insurance holding company engaged in traditional individual and group life, asset-intensive, critical illness, and financial reinsurance.

What analysts say:

• Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts strongly back Reinsurance Group of America, with six of eight rating it a buy and the remainder rating it a hold. Analysts like Reinsurance Group of America better than competitor PartnerRe overall. While analysts still rate the stock a moderate buy, they are a little more optimistic about it compared to three months ago.
• Revenue Forecasts: On average, analysts predict $2.31 billion in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 1.8% from the year-ago quarter.
• Wall Street Earnings Expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $1.84 per share. Estimates range from $1.76 to $1.87.

What our community says:
CAPS All-Stars are solidly backing the stock, with 97.1% giving it an "outperform" rating. The community at large is in line with the All-Stars, with 92.9% granting it a rating of "outperform." Fools have embraced Reinsurance Group of America, though the message boards have been quiet lately with only 26 posts in the past 30 days. Even with a robust four out of five stars, Reinsurance Group of America's CAPS rating falls a little short of the community's upbeat outlook.

Management:
Reinsurance Group of America's profit has risen year-over-year by an average of 31.5% over the past five quarters. Revenue has now gone up for three straight quarters.

Now let's look at how efficient management is at running the business. Traditionally, margins represent the efficiency with which companies capture portions of sales dollars. The following table shows net margins over the past four quarters.

Quarter	Q3	Q2	Q1	Q4
Net Margin	7.4%	6.0%	7.0%	8.6%

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