Fundamentals snapshot
WRB · NYQ · Financial Services · Insurance - Property & Casualty
Current price
$75.42
52-week range
$62.87 - $78.96
Market cap
$28.00B
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 cash $795.73M. Interest coverage shows how many times profit covers the interest bill.
What stands out
What this company does
W. R. Berkley Corporation is an insurance company that sells various types of insurance, mostly for businesses and specialized needs like cyber risks or fine arts. Most of their money comes from selling these insurance policies, which is important because it shows how well they are doing at managing the risks they take on and how much profit they can make after paying out claims and expenses.
W. R. Berkley Corporation started in 1967, not as an insurance company, but as an investment firm founded by William R. Berkley and a Harvard Business School classmate. Berkley's early success in investing, even as a teenager, fueled his ambition. The company went public in 1973 and began acquiring insurance companies, strategically building its portfolio. Over the decades, W. R. Berkley has grown by acquiring and developing numerous specialized insurance businesses, focusing on niche markets that require deep expertise. This approach has allowed the company to adapt and thrive in the ever-changing insurance landscape, becoming a significant player in the commercial property and casualty insurance sector.
W. R. Berkley Corporation is an insurance holding company. Think of it like a parent company that owns many different insurance businesses. These businesses provide insurance policies to other businesses (commercial lines) and sometimes individuals, protecting them from financial losses due to various risks. They operate in the property and casualty insurance market, meaning they cover damage to property (like buildings or cars) and liability for causing harm to others. The company's main goal is to offer specialized insurance solutions across a wide range of industries and risks.
This is the largest part of W. R. Berkley's business, where its various subsidiaries offer a wide array of insurance policies. These policies cover commercial risks, which are the potential financial losses businesses might face. This includes everything from general liability (if a customer gets hurt at a business) and commercial property damage to specialized coverage for industries like technology, life sciences, and even fine arts and jewelry. They also offer accident and health insurance, and personal lines insurance for things like homes and cars, though the primary focus is on commercial clients. Essentially, this segment is about providing tailored insurance protection for a vast number of business-related risks.
This segment is a bit more specialized. Reinsurance is essentially insurance for insurance companies. If a primary insurance company has too many claims from a major event (like a hurricane), it can buy reinsurance to help cover those costs. Monoline excess refers to providing extra layers of liability coverage above a certain amount for businesses. These specialized services help other insurance companies manage their own risks and provide higher levels of protection for large or complex business exposures. It's a crucial part of the insurance ecosystem, ensuring stability and capacity for the entire industry.
W. R. Berkley's management is focused on profitable growth and expanding market share by leveraging their expertise in specialized insurance niches. They are investing in technology, including artificial intelligence (AI), to improve efficiency in areas like underwriting and claims processing, with expected benefits to materialize in the coming years. The company also prioritizes maintaining a strong capital position to weather market fluctuations and returns excess capital to shareholders through buybacks and dividends. Their strategy emphasizes disciplined underwriting, meaning they focus on writing policies where they can make a profit, rather than just chasing premium volume.
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 cash $795.7M - more cash than debt. Interest coverage 19.0x.
W. R. Berkley Corporation's profit covers its interest bill about 19.0 times over.
Total debt $3.10B Interest coverage 18.97x This is the baseline the peer rows are being compared against.
Total debt $25.01B Interest coverage 18.07x -5% vs WRB Has roughly the same debt cushion as WRB.
Total debt $9.81B Interest coverage 19.34x +2% vs WRB Has roughly the same debt cushion as WRB.
Total debt $7.50B Interest coverage 33.97x +79% vs WRB Carries about 1.8x more debt cushion than WRB.
Total debt $8.39B Interest coverage 52.16x +175% vs WRB Carries about 2.7x more debt cushion than WRB.
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