Key Takeaways
- CNO’s growth comes from higher premiums in annuity, life and health products and rising fee revenues.
- CNO is investing in digital tools and enrollment platforms to lift agent productivity and online demand.
- CNO returns capital via buybacks and dividends, with ROIC above industry despite leverage.
CNO Financial Group, Inc. (CNO – Free Report) is poised for continued growth, driven by strong collected premiums from annuity, life and health products, rising new annualized premiums and higher fee revenues. Favorable industry tailwinds, rate actions and technology investments are supporting its performance.
CNO Financial — with a market cap of $4.2 billion — is a top-tier insurance company with $38.3 billion in total assets. It administers life and health insurance, workforce benefits solutions, annuities and financial services. Due to solid prospects, this currently Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) stock is worth investing in at the moment.
Let’s delve deeper.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for CNO Financial’s 2025 earnings is pegged at $4.14 per share, indicating a 4.3% year-over-year increase, followed by another 4.4% increase in 2026 to $4.32. The company has witnessed multiple upward estimate revisions in the past 60 days against no movement in the opposite direction. CNO beat on earnings in three of the last four quarters and met once, with an average surprise of 6.5%. Shares jumped 15.7% in the past year, outperforming the industry’s 12.9% growth.
The consensus estimate for 2025 and 2026 revenues stands at $3.78 billion and $3.9 billion, respectively. Improved collected premiums from annuity, life and health products are likely to support the top line, along with higher fees.
CNO has invested heavily in technology to boost agent productivity and sales efficiency. Digital tools, training and virtual consultations enable seamless online insurance applications and an improved customer experience. Its digital marketplace, myHealthPolicy.com, supports growing online Medicare demand and helps attract younger customers, while the Optavise hybrid enrollment platform improves agent engagement and drives higher participation.
CNO Financial’s ROIC of 7.3% significantly exceeds the industry average of 2.1%, highlighting superior capital efficiency and indicating more disciplined investment allocation and execution than most peers.
Its shareholder-friendly capital returns remain robust. In 2024, it returned around $411 million through buybacks and dividends. During the first nine months of 2025, the company repurchased $259.9 million of shares and paid $50 million in dividends, with $480.4 million still authorized for repurchases as of Sept. 30, 2025.
Risks
However, there are a few factors that investors should keep an eye on.
CNO Financial’s long-term debt-to-capital stands at 59.1%, significantly above the industry’s average of 29.7%. It exited the third quarter with unrestricted cash and cash equivalents of $1.2 billion, which declined 26.5% from the 2024-end level. Also, rising benefits and expenses are impacting margin growth potential. However, we believe that a systematic and strategic plan of action will continue to drive its long-term growth.
Other Key Picks
Investors interested in the broader Finance space can also check other top-ranked companies like Assurant, Inc. (AIZ – Free Report) , Assured Guaranty Ltd. (AGO – Free Report) and Slide Insurance Holdings, Inc. (SLDE – Free Report) , each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Assurant’s current-year earnings indicates a 17.1% year-over-year increase. It beat earnings estimates in all the past four quarters, with an average surprise of 22.7%. Also, the consensus mark for Assurant’s 2025 revenues suggests 7.1% year-over-year growth.
The consensus mark for Assured Guaranty’s current-year earnings indicates a 16.9% year-over-year increase. It witnessed one upward estimate revision over the past 60 days, against no downward movement. Furthermore, the consensus estimate for Assured Guaranty’s 2025 revenues suggests 2.1% year-over-year growth to $837.8 million.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Slide Insurance’s current-year earnings is pegged at $3 per share, which witnessed two upward revisions over the past month, against no downward movement. The consensus estimate for Slide Insurance’s 2025 revenues is pegged at $1.2 billion.