Why Unum Stock Is More Than 14% Higher Today

Shares of insurance company Unum Group (NYSE: UNM) are up 14.2% as of 12:51 p.m. ET on Wednesday. The surge follows yesterday's post-close release of second-quarter results that topped analyst estimates, underscored by encouraging guidance for the remainder of the year.

For the three-month stretch ending in June, Unum Group turned a little over $3 billion worth of revenue into an adjusted operating profit of $1.91 per share. Although the top line was up only slightly on a year-over-year basis, earnings more than doubled versus the year-earlier per-share profit of $0.89. And both revenue and earnings beat estimates of a little less than $3 billion and $1.22 per share, respectively.

Unum's report differs from a handful of earnings reports already tendered by other insurance outfits. Assurant shares are down more than 9% on Wednesday, for instance, after the company posted sales and profit figures that both fell short of estimates. Markel also missed its Q2 earnings estimates, sending the stock down more than 4% today.

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Source Fool.com