James River Group (JRVR)
is a relatively small specialty insurer, but it punches somewhat above
its weight by focuses on attractive areas like excess & surplus and
fronting. Although the company saw an uncommon negative reserve
development in 2017 due to higher losses from its business with Uber,
James River has moved quickly to re-underwrite that business. All told,
this has historically been an insurer with strong underwriting
discipline, very good expense control, and a willingness to return
capital to shareholders.
Between a restructured
relationship with Uber and hardening markets in several of its core
excess and surplus specialties, I think James River is looking at an
attractive market opportunity relative to the overall P&C market.
Even though the shares haven’t done much over the past year, they don’t
look strikingly cheap today, as I think a mid-$40’s price is quite fair
right now.
Follow this link to the full article:
Harder Markets Driving James River Group
