MetLife NYSE: MET reported a strong start to 2026, with executives telling analysts that first-quarter results reflected broad-based growth across its operating businesses, favorable underwriting trends and disciplined capital management under its New Frontier strategy.
President and Chief Executive Officer Michel Khalaf said the quarter showed “the full earnings power of MetLife,” with adjusted earnings ahead of the prior year in all operating business segments and top-line growth across nearly all businesses and regions. The insurer reported adjusted earnings of $1.6 billion, or $2.42 per share, up 18% from the prior-year period. Adjusted earnings per share increased 23%, which Khalaf attributed in part to ongoing capital management.
Net income was $1.1 billion, or $1.74 per share. Chief Financial Officer John McCallion said the primary difference between net income and adjusted earnings was net investment losses, mainly from normal trading activity within the fixed maturity portfolio and a modest loss tied to the sale of a portion of private equity limited partnership interests.
Adjusted premiums, fees and other revenues, excluding pension risk transfers, rose 10% year-over-year. Adjusted return on equity reached 17%, at the top end of the company’s 15% to 17% target range, while the direct expense ratio improved to 11.9%, ahead of MetLife’s 2026 annual target of 12.1%.
Group Benefits and RIS Post Earnings Growth
Group Benefits generated adjusted earnings of $439 million, up 19% year-over-year. Khalaf said life mortality was “exceptional,” helped by favorable working population mortality trends and a light flu season. McCallion said the Group Life mortality ratio was 80.1%, better than the company’s 2026 target range of 83% to 88%.
In response to an analyst question, Ramy Tadros, Regional President of U.S. Business, said potential drivers of favorable working-age mortality could include a COVID-related pull-forward effect, GLP-1 drugs and other factors the company is studying. Tadros said that if the favorability persists and becomes credible, “some portion of it” would likely flow back into pricing gradually, over years rather than quarters.
Group Benefits sales increased 15%, driven by growth in core and voluntary products. Adjusted premiums, fees and other revenues rose 2%, or about 4% excluding the impact of participating contracts. Tadros said persistency improved broadly, particularly in dental, and voluntary product growth was in the double digits.
Retirement and Income Solutions reported adjusted earnings of $451 million, up 11% from a year earlier, driven by higher variable investment income and favorable underwriting margins. McCallion said total investment spread was 119 basis points, at the top end of the company’s 100 to 120 basis point guidance range. Core spread excluding variable investment income was 95 basis points, down 4 basis points sequentially as MetLife continued rotating assets tied to large fourth-quarter pension risk transfer inflows.
McCallion said RIS adjusted premiums, fees and other revenues excluding pension risk transfers were up 58%, driven by U.K. longevity reinsurance, post-retirement benefits and structured settlements. He said the company still expects full-year RIS adjusted earnings of $1.6 billion to $1.8 billion.
International Businesses Deliver Broad Growth
Asia delivered adjusted earnings of $487 million, up 31%. Sales increased 22% on a constant currency basis, led by Japan and Korea. Khalaf said Japan sales rose 26% on a constant currency basis, reflecting strength in both foreign-exchange and yen-denominated products, as well as a new corporate accident and health product launched during the quarter.
Lyndon Oliver, Regional President of MetLife Asia, said Japan’s growth was driven by distribution strength across channels and product launches. He said accident and health sales in Japan rose 77% year-over-year, while the mix between yen and dollar products was close to 50/50. Korea sales increased 44%, helped by U.S. dollar products and strength in Korean won products amid rising equity markets.
Latin America adjusted earnings totaled $229 million, up 5% year-over-year, though McCallion said earnings were down 9% on a constant currency basis due to Mexico’s value-added tax change and less favorable taxes. Sales rose 20% on a constant currency basis, with growth in Brazil, Mexico and Chile.
EMEA adjusted earnings were $110 million, up 33%, while adjusted premiums, fees and other revenues increased 15% on a constant currency basis. Khalaf said strong sales growth over several years was translating into premium and earnings growth. Asked about the Middle East, Khalaf said MetLife had not seen any impact so far and that, provided the situation stabilizes, any impact would not be material to EMEA or MetLife overall.
MetLife Investment Management Integrates PineBridge
MetLife Investment Management reported adjusted earnings of $47 million, up from $28 million a year earlier, following the first fully integrated quarter after the PineBridge acquisition. McCallion said results were in line with the outlook provided in February and reflected business growth, including PineBridge, and favorable expense margins.
Institutional client outflows were about $2 billion during the quarter. McCallion said the outflows reflected market volatility, normal allocation shifts and the impact of combining the two platforms. He said outflows stabilized later in the first quarter and into April, while the pipeline and forward commitments looked strong, particularly in private assets.
McCallion said the integration is progressing, with a combined leadership team and work underway to consolidate key investment platforms. He added that PineBridge’s international footprint is creating early cross-selling opportunities, noting that about half of PineBridge’s assets under management are outside the U.S.
Capital Returns, Investment Portfolio and AI
MetLife returned about $1.1 billion to shareholders in the first quarter, including approximately $750 million of share repurchases and about $370 million of common dividends. The company repurchased nearly another $200 million of stock in April and had $1.1 billion remaining on its existing authorization. Khalaf said the board also approved a 4.4% increase in the common dividend per share.
The company ended the quarter with $3.9 billion of cash and liquid assets at its holding companies, near the top end of its $3 billion to $4 billion target liquidity buffer. MetLife also issued $1 billion of subordinated debt during the quarter, which Khalaf said supports the balance sheet and provides growth capital.
Variable investment income was $518 million pretax, above the implied quarterly run rate and driven by private equity returns averaging 2.9%. McCallion said venture capital performance was strong, with the venture capital portfolio generating a 6.8% return for the quarter.
McCallion also addressed the company’s private fixed income and software-related exposures. He said MetLife’s approximately $85 billion private fixed income portfolio was about 95% investment grade, with no exposure to business development companies and middle market loan exposure under 1% of the general account. Software-related direct exposure was $2.5 billion, or 0.6% of the general account, while indirect exposure was $6.3 billion, or 1.4% of the general account.
Khalaf said artificial intelligence remains an important part of the New Frontier strategy. He said MetLife has invested more than $3.2 billion over five years to simplify and modernize its technology ecosystem, and that AI is helping improve customer service, decision-making and productivity while supporting expense discipline.
“This was an excellent quarter that illustrates the investment case for MetLife,” Khalaf said, adding that the company’s New Frontier strategy continues to translate into durable earnings power, capital flexibility and attractive risk-adjusted returns.
About MetLife NYSE: MET
MetLife, Inc is a global provider of insurance, annuities and employee benefit programs. Headquartered in New York City, the company offers a range of risk protection and retirement solutions to individuals, employers and institutional clients. Its core businesses include life insurance, group benefits, retirement products such as annuities, and supplemental health products including dental and disability coverage.
In addition to traditional life and group insurance, MetLife provides workplace benefits and voluntary products distributed through employer-sponsored programs.
This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.
Before you consider MetLife, you'll want to hear this.
MarketBeat keeps track of Wall Street's top-rated and best performing research analysts and the stocks they recommend to their clients on a daily basis. MarketBeat has identified the five stocks that top analysts are quietly whispering to their clients to buy now before the broader market catches on... and MetLife wasn't on the list.
While MetLife currently has a Moderate Buy rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys.
View The Five Stocks Here
Nuclear energy is entering a new growth cycle as rising power demand, expanding data centers, and renewed policy support bring the sector back into focus. After strong gains in recent years, the most impactful phase of nuclear investment may still be ahead.
This report highlights seven nuclear energy stocks positioned across the value chain—combining near-term revenue with long-term upside as next-generation technologies scale. Click the link below to unlock the full list.
Get This Free Report
