Fundamentals snapshot
UNM · NYQ · Financial Services · Insurance - Life
Current price
$94.82
52-week range
$69.02 - $96.77
Market cap
$15.01B
One-glance verdict
We don't put a cash-flow fair value on banks and insurers. For these companies the reported 'cash flow' is really just money moving between loans, deposits and trades — not the leftover profit the owners could actually pocket — so the usual method would print a misleading number.
Balance sheet
Net debt $1.91B. Interest coverage shows how many times profit covers the interest bill.
What stands out
What this company does
Unum Group is an insurance company that partners with employers to offer benefits like disability insurance (which helps pay your bills if you can't work) and life insurance to their employees. Unum collects regular payments (called premiums) for this coverage, and because most employers consistently provide benefits to their staff, this business model can generate predictable revenue.
Unum Group's story begins in 1848 with a Maine-based company called Union Mutual. Through a series of mergers and acquisitions, most notably the 1999 merger of Unum and Provident Companies to form UnumProvident, it grew into a major player in the insurance industry. A key turning point was the acquisition of Colonial Life in 1993, which expanded its presence in voluntary benefits offered at the workplace. The company officially became Unum Group in 2007 and has since expanded its offerings to include dental and vision benefits and has grown its international presence.
Unum Group provides financial protection benefits, which are insurance policies that help people cover their expenses if they get sick, injured, or pass away. The company primarily sells its products to employers, who then offer them to their employees as part of their benefits package. Think of it as a safety net for your income; if you're unable to work due to a disability, for example, Unum's insurance can help replace a portion of your lost wages. They also offer life insurance, accident insurance, and coverage for critical illnesses, dental, and vision care.
This is Unum's largest and most significant business segment, generating the majority of the company's revenue. It offers a wide range of insurance products to employers across the United States, including disability insurance (both short-term and long-term), group life insurance, and accidental death and dismemberment coverage. This segment also provides supplemental insurance options that employees can choose to purchase, such as individual disability, dental, and vision plans. The customers are businesses of all sizes who want to provide benefits to their employees.
As the name suggests, this segment handles Unum's insurance operations outside of the United States, primarily in the United Kingdom and Poland. In the U.K., it is a leading provider of group income protection and also offers life, critical illness, and dental insurance. In Poland, the focus is on group and individual life insurance. This part of the business sells its products to employers in these countries, helping them provide valuable benefits to their workforce.
Colonial Life is a distinct brand within Unum Group that specializes in voluntary benefits. This means they offer insurance products that employees can choose to buy through their workplace, with premiums (the regular payments for the policy) often deducted directly from their paychecks. Their offerings include accident, sickness, disability, life, cancer, and critical illness insurance. Colonial Life's customers are the employees who decide to purchase these additional layers of financial protection.
This segment is different from the others because it contains older insurance policies that the company no longer actively sells. This includes products like individual disability and long-term care insurance. While Unum Group continues to service these existing policies and manage the associated risks, it is not writing new business in these specific product lines. The focus here is on managing these legacy policies for profitability and financial stability rather than growth.
Unum's leadership is focused on profitably growing its core businesses: Unum US, Unum International, and Colonial Life. A key part of their strategy involves expanding the sale of voluntary benefits, dental, and vision products, as these are areas where they see increasing demand from employers and employees. The company is also investing in technology to improve the customer experience and make it easier for people to manage their benefits. Additionally, they are actively managing their older, non-growth policies in the "Closed Block" to reduce financial risk and free up capital (money) to invest in their growing business segments.
Price history
Earnings history
Click any quarter to read the call summary and what the numbers say.
Is it cheap or expensive?
For a bank or insurer, the "free cash flow" shown on its statements is mostly money flowing through loans, deposits and trades — not the leftover profit the owners could actually keep, which is what this kind of valuation needs. Running that through the usual method would spit out a meaningless number, so we leave the cash-flow fair value out here rather than show you something misleading.
Is it drowning in debt?
Net debt $1.9B. Interest coverage 5.5x.
Unum Group's profit covers its interest bill about 5.5 times over.
Total debt $3.99B Interest coverage 5.47x This is the baseline the peer rows are being compared against.
Total debt $16.18B Interest coverage 21.60x +295% vs UNM Carries about 3.9x more debt cushion than UNM.
Total debt $7.24B Interest coverage 6.89x +26% vs UNM Carries about 1.3x more debt cushion than UNM.
Total debt $4.58B Interest coverage 4.39x -20% vs UNM Carries about 1.2x less debt cushion than UNM.
Total debt $3.43B Interest coverage 11.17x +104% vs UNM Carries about 2.0x more debt cushion than UNM.
What you should know
The numbers
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Valuation
Profitability
Health
Growth
Cash flow
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Metric explainer
Debt comparison
What you should know