Unum (UNM) Lags Q2 Earnings Estimates

Group 1: Earnings Performance - Unum reported quarterly earnings of $2.07 per share, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.23 per share, and down from $2.16 per share a year ago, representing an earnings surprise of -7.17% [1] - Over the last four quarters, Unum has surpassed consensus EPS estimates just once [2] - The company posted revenues of $3.38 billion for the quarter, exceeding the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 1.72%, compared to $3.24 billion in the same quarter last year [2] Group 2: Stock Performance and Outlook - Unum shares have increased approximately 9.7% since the beginning of the year, outperforming the S&P 500's gain of 8.6% [3] - The current consensus EPS estimate for the upcoming quarter is $2.30 on revenues of $3.3 billion, and for the current fiscal year, it is $8.88 on revenues of $13.23 billion [7] - The estimate revisions trend for Unum was mixed ahead of the earnings release, resulting in a Zacks Rank 3 (Hold) for the stock, indicating expected performance in line with the market [6] Group 3: Industry Context - The Insurance - Accident and Health industry, to which Unum belongs, is currently in the bottom 30% of over 250 Zacks industries, which may impact stock performance [8] - Empirical research indicates a strong correlation between near-term stock movements and trends in earnings estimate revisions, suggesting that investors should monitor these revisions closely [5]