Hartford Q2 operating earnings down; beat view

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Hartford Financial Services Group Inc's (HIG.N) earnings fell in the second quarter, hurt by a surge in claims from tornado damage and lower investment returns, but the results still beat Wall Street expectations.

Hartford, a large life and property-casualty insurer, said on Monday that operating earnings fell 9 percent to $696 million, or $2.22 a share. On that basis, analysts on average expected the company to earn $2.10 a share, according to Reuters Estimates.

The insurer said it still expects between $9.20 and $9.50 a share in operating earnings in 2008.

Goldman Sachs analyst Tom Cholnoky, in a research note, said Hartford beat expectations with stronger than expected results in both its property-casualty, and life divisions.

The company's shares jumped 4 percent to $60.60 in post-market trading after closing down 3.86 percent at $58.26 in the New York Stock Exchange's regular session.

Hartford's second-quarter net income fell 13 percent to $543 million, or $1.73 a share, from $627 million, or $1.96 a share in the year-ago period.

The Hartford, Connecticut-based insurer said catastrophe losses in the period rose to $171 million, from $52 million in the same period a year ago, largely as a result of losses from tornadoes and thunderstorms that ripped through Mid-Western and South-Eastern parts of the United States earlier this year.

Net written property-casualty premiums fell 3 percent to $2.6 billion, less than some analysts expected, while assets under management in its life operations rose 3 percent to $363 billion.

Net investment income fell 8 percent to $1.2 billion and investments in alternatives such as hedge funds and private equity was less than a quarter of the prior-year period at $25 million.

Net realized capital losses rose to $156 million from $148 million in the second quarter of 2007.

(Reporting by Lilla Zuill; Editing by Andre Grenon and Carol Bishopric)