Insurance holding company Globe Life (NYSE: GL) missed Wall Street’s revenue expectations in Q4 CY2025 as sales rose 3.7% year on year to $1.52 billion. Its GAAP profit of $3.29 per share was 3.2% below analysts’ consensus estimates.

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Company Overview

With roots dating back to 1900 and a rebranding from Torchmark Corporation in 2019, Globe Life (NYSE: GL) is an insurance holding company that offers life insurance, supplemental health insurance, and annuity products through various distribution channels.

Revenue Growth

In general, insurance companies earn revenue from three primary sources. The first is the core insurance business itself, often called underwriting and represented in the income statement as premiums earned. The second source is investment income from investing the “float” (premiums collected upfront not yet paid out as claims) in assets such as fixed-income assets and equities. The third is fees from various sources such as policy administration, annuities, or other value-added services. Over the last five years, Globe Life grew its revenue at a tepid 4.9% compounded annual growth rate. This was below our standard for the insurance sector and is a poor baseline for our analysis.

Long-term growth is the most important, but within financials, a half-decade historical view may miss recent interest rate changes and market returns. Globe Life’s annualized revenue growth of 4.5% over the last two years aligns with its five-year trend, suggesting its demand was consistently weak.

This quarter, Globe Life’s revenue grew by 3.7% year on year to $1.52 billion, falling short of Wall Street’s estimates.

Net premiums earned made up 81% of the company’s total revenue during the last five years, meaning Globe Life barely relies on non-insurance activities to drive its overall growth.

Our experience and research show the market cares primarily about an insurer’s net premiums earned growth as investment and fee income are considered more susceptible to market volatility and economic cycles.

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Book Value Per Share (BVPS)

Insurance companies are balance sheet businesses, collecting premiums upfront and paying out claims over time. The float – premiums collected but not yet paid out – are invested, creating an asset base supported by a liability structure. Book value captures this dynamic by measuring:

• Assets (investment portfolio, cash, reinsurance recoverables) - liabilities (claim reserves, debt, future policy benefits)

BVPS is essentially the residual value for shareholders.

We therefore consider BVPS very important to track for insurers and a metric that sheds light on business quality because it reflects long-term capital growth and is harder to manipulate than more commonly-used metrics like EPS.

Globe Life’s BVPS declined at a 2.6% annual clip over the last five years. However, BVPS growth has accelerated recently, growing by 24.5% annually over the last two years from $47.84 to $74.17 per share.

Over the next 12 months, Consensus estimates call for Globe Life’s BVPS to grow by 46.1% to $97.30, elite growth rate.

Key Takeaways from Globe Life’s Q4 Results

We struggled to find many positives in these results. Its book value per share missed and its EPS fell short of Wall Street’s estimates. Overall, this quarter could have been better. The stock traded down 3.1% to $140.34 immediately following the results.

Globe Life’s latest earnings report disappointed. One quarter doesn’t define a company’s quality, so let’s explore whether the stock is a buy at the current price. When making that decision, it’s important to consider its valuation, business qualities, as well as what has happened in the latest quarter. We cover that in our actionable full research report which you can read here (it’s free).