Loews posts quarterly loss hurt by CNA, gas unit

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Conglomerate Loews Corp (L.N) reported a first-quarter loss on Monday, hurt by investment losses at its commercial insurer CNA Financial Corp (CNA.N) and charges related to its wholly owned natural gas unit.

The New York-based company run by the billionaire Tisch family, posted losses from continuing operations of $647 million, or $1.49 a share, compared with a profit of $409 million, or 77 cents a share, in the same period a year ago.

Excluding items, Loews earned 74 cents a share, compared with a median forecast of 62 cents from two analysts polled by Reuters Estimates. In morning trading, Loews' shares rose 5.7 percent to $26.62.

Insurance companies were broadly hurt by investment losses in the first quarter, as the U.S. stock market dropped and domestic bond markets largely moved sideways.

Plummeting financial markets hurt Loews' 90 percent-owned subsidiary CNA, which reported realized investment losses of $310 million in the first quarter. CNA posted a first-quarter net loss of $195 million, or 84 cents a common share.

The conglomerate was also hurt by an impairment charge in its HighMount Exploration & Production LLC, natural gas and oil properties caused by lower commodities prices, which amounted to about $1 billion before taxes and $660 million after taxes.

Loews bought the HighMount assets from Dominion (D.N) in July 2007 for about $4 billion. The price of natural gas spiked over the summer of 2008, but has since plummeted to 40 percent below its value when the deal closed. The comglomerate recorded a $440 million after-tax charge on the business in the fourth quarter of 2008.

Book value per share increased to $30.73 at March 31 from $30.18 at December 31.

Loews' shares ended up 1.21 percent at $25.19 on Friday on the New York Stock Exchange. The stock is down 11 percent so far this year.

(Reporting by Juan Lagorio, additional reporting by Dan Wilchins; Editing by Maureen Bavdek, Dave Zimmerman)