Mr. Berg: No doubt about it, they have outperformed. The market believes that these are essentially mutual fund companies under another name, or at least that the annuity companies are. Accordingly, believing that fees and therefore revenues will be rising with a higher stock market, they have bid up the price of many life insurance stocks.
TWST: Has that been the prime motivator? Has the view really changed to
consider these as mutual fund proxies?
Mr. Berg: Certainly there are ongoing concerns out there about the
health and life insurance industry, and I, for one, have not been nearly
as positive on the group as the big supporters of the annuity stocks.
But I will acknowledge that I have been wrong on some of these names,
and they have handily outperformed in a rising rate environment.
Tickers included in this excerpt: AFL, AIFA, AIG, AXP, C, HIG, JHF, JP, LNC, MET, NFS, PFG, PL, PRU, RGA, TMK, UNM
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