We continue to believe that W.R. Berkley remains a well-run company with a long history of underwriting risk with a disciplined approach. However, we can no longer overlook the disconnect between fundamentals and valuation. Clearly, the market appreciates the characteristics that originally attracted us to the company over a decade ago. We reinvested the proceeds … Read more
Similar to our actions in Philip Morris, we took the recent post November election strength in W.R. Berkley’s stock to materially reduce our investment position. We would be hard-pressed to explicitly state the specific reason behind the sudden surge in WRB’s stock price, other than the market aggressively bid up the entire financial sector following … Read more
As investors with a long-term investment horizon, the property and casualty (P&C) insurance industry presents a compelling business model. The primary reason insurance stocks tend to do well over time is simple to understand: well-managed insurance companies do not pay for capital. The largest expense most companies face is the cost of capital. For example, … Read more
W. R. Berkley is an insurance holding company that is among the largest commercial lines writers in the U.S. and operates in five business segments: specialty insurance, regional property casualty insurance, alternative markets, reinsurance and international. Berkley”s primary source of revenues and earnings are its insurance operations and its investments. The profitability of the insurance … Read more
W.R. Berkley is an insurance holding company overseeing a number of subsidiaries, all of which primarily write commercial casualty insurance. The firm specializes in niche products that include various excess and surplus lines, workers compensation insurance, self-insurance consulting, reinsurance, and regional commercial lines for small and midsize businesses. We believe W.R. Berkley is well-positioned to … Read more