Loews Corporation
Q3 2011 Earnings Call Transcript

Published: 31 Oct 2011

[Operator:]

Good morning. My name is Melissa, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Loews Third Quarter 2011 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] I will now turn the conference over to Darren Daugherty, Director of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

[Darren Daugherty:]

Thank you, Melissa. Good morning, everyone. Welcome to Loews Corporation's Third Quarter 2011 Earnings Conference Call. A copy of the earnings release may be found on our website, loews.com. On the call this morning are Chief Executive Officer Jim Tisch and Chief Financial Officer Peter Keegan. Following our prepared remarks this morning, we will have a question-and-answer session. Before we begin, however, I will remind you that this conference call might include statements that are forward-looking in nature. Actual results achieved by the company may differ materially from those projections made in any forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements reflect circumstances at the time they are made, and the company expressly disclaims any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements. This disclaimer is only a brief summary of the company's statutory forward-looking statements disclaimer, which is included in the company's filings with the SEC. During the call today, we might also discuss non-GAAP financial measures. Please refer to our security filings for reconciliations to the most comparable GAAP measures. I will now turn the call over to Loews' Chief Executive Officer, Jim Tisch.

[James S. Tisch:]

Thank you, Darren, and good morning, and thanks for joining us on our call today. Loews reported net income of $162 million for this year's third quarter compared to $36 million for the third quarter of 2010. Results for the prior year quarter included a $328 million after-tax charge related to CNA's agreement to cede its legacy asbestos and pollution liabilities to a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway. Excluding that charge, net income for the quarter decreased by $202 million versus the prior year quarter, primarily from 3 factors

[Peter W. Keegan:]

Thanks, Jim, and good morning, everyone. Loews Corporation reported earnings of $0.40 per share for the third quarter of 2011. Adjusting for the charge associated with CNA's Loss Portfolio Transfer transaction in 2010, earnings for the prior year third quarter would have been $0.87 per share rather than the reported $0.09 per share. This decline in results versus the adjusted number was primarily due to lower results from CNA and lower investment income in the holding company portfolio but was partially offset by higher earnings from Diamond Offshore. CNA's contribution to Loews' net operating income was $84 million in the third quarter. In the prior year quarter, CNA contributed an operating loss of $140 million, or, when adjusted for the Loss Portfolio Transfer, CNA contributed operating income of $169 million in the prior year quarter. Net operating income in CNA's core property and casualty operations declined primarily because of lower net investment income than higher catastrophe losses. Net investment income for the 3 months ended September 20, 2011 decreased by $187 million pretax as compared to the same period in 2010, primarily driven by the previously discussed decrease in limited partnership results as well as lower fixed-maturity security income. In the third quarter, CNA reported catastrophe losses of $29 million after tax and noncontrolling interest as compared to $7 million for the same period in 2010. P&C operations produced a third quarter combined ratio of 99.1% versus 98% in the third quarter of 2010. Excluding the impacts of prior year development and catastrophe losses, combined ratios were 101% and 103.7% for the comparable periods. For the quarter, CNA reported realized investment losses of $15 million after tax and noncontrolling interest versus realized investment gains of $37 million in the prior year quarter. Diamond Offshore's contribution to net income for the quarter increased to $121 million from $93 million in the prior year quarter, primarily as a result of an increase in contract drilling revenues. Results for the third quarter of 2011 reflect the return to service of 3 of Diamond Offshore's high-specification floaters that were idled during the second quarter of 2010 following the Macondo incident in the Gulf of Mexico. Also, the newest addition to Diamond Offshore's floater fleet, the Ocean Valor, began generating revenue in the fourth quarter of 2010 when it commenced operating under contract in Brazil. Contract drilling expense increased by $41 million and included normal operating cost for the Ocean Valor as well as the increased amortized mobilization costs and higher cost associated with rigs operating internationally rather than domestically. Additionally, Diamond Offshore recognized a pretax gain of $31 million in the third quarter of 2010 related to the sale of the Ocean Shield. Also benefiting Diamond's results for the quarter was a lower effective tax rate as compared with the 2010 period. HighMount's operating income for the quarter decreased to $16 million from $19 million in the prior year quarter due to decreased sales volumes stemming from a reduction in HighMount's drilling activity. Average prices realized per Mcfe were $6.22 in the third quarter of 2011 compared to $5.80 in the 2010 period. Operating expenses increased by $2 million in the third quarter of 2011 as compared to the 2010 period, primarily due to increased DD&A expenses related to negative reserve revisions in December 2010 and projected future development cost. HighMount's production volumes and realized prices in the third quarter are as follows

[Darren Daugherty:]

Thank you, Pete. Operator, at this time, we'll open it up for questions.

[Operator:]

[Operator Instructions] Your first question comes from Bob Glasspiegel of Langen McAlenney.

[Robert Glasspiegel:]

And I want to wish Darren good luck. You're leaving big shoes to fill. I'm glad to know that you're going to be staying in the family. On the Boardwalk transaction, we won't be able to figure out what Loews' earnings are from what Boardwalk's earnings, given that we're going to have this sort of side venture working through the numbers. What sort of transparency are you expecting to provide? And any sense of what the sort of core running earnings rate of what this business might be?

[Peter W. Keegan:]

Well, we haven't decided whether we'll split any of that out. As you indicated, it will be included in our overall Boardwalk results unless we disclose it separately, Bob.

[Robert Glasspiegel:]

Any sense for just the rough earnings run rate of what this business is? Is it a GAAP earnings contributor? Is it a cash flow business where the GAAP earnings don't have any correlation to, necessarily, to operations?

[James S. Tisch:]

Our internal projections show it has both. It has a reasonably good cash flow for the joint venture or whoever the ultimate owner is. And as well, it should have reasonably similar GAAP results. The other thing that it does is that it provides a very strong anchor for one end of our system -- one end of the Boardwalk system, where electric and gas utilities will find it very advantageous to use that storage, which is high-release storage, so that they can get the gas that they need for -- in the case of utilities, hot days, and in the case of -- electric utilities, hot days, and in the case of gas utilities, very cold days.

[Robert Glasspiegel:]

Just the fact that you're letting your cash position work after a long period of sort of letting it build suggest that you're feeling better about the world. Or is this just sort of one-off transactions that popped up?

[James S. Tisch:]

Over the years, we've said that we would support our subsidiaries. And right now, what we're finding is that we're able to support them with -- by helping them to finance transactions that should be very accretive to shareholder value not only with the subsidiaries, but also at Loews. So we're very pleased with the Petal and Hattiesburg acquisitions at Boardwalk, and likewise, we're very pleased with the $106 million land acquisition that HighMount is making just today in Oklahoma.

[Robert Glasspiegel:]

Okay. So it really doesn't have any change in your macro view of the world, then, it sounds like.

[James S. Tisch:]

No, but I think what's happening, though, is that we're finding that we're able to do these transactions. We're finding that there may be somewhat less competition, and we're finding that the prices are more reasonable. So that's why we're willing to step in.

[Operator:]

Your next question comes from David Adelman of Morgan Stanley.

[David J. Adelman:]

Jim, how much of a consideration was it on the Boardwalk transaction that because of where Boardwalk's unit price is that they had to, in effect, rely on Loews? And how might that color your interest going forward in doing subsequent transactions with Boardwalk? Is that a major consideration? Is it irrelevant to you? Is it a concern of yours?

[James S. Tisch:]

It was a significant consideration. Based on the price of Boardwalk's shares when we agreed to the acquisition, the deal did not make a lot of economic sense for Boardwalk, and Loews was willing to bridge that acquisition and wait for the Boardwalk price to go higher, which, in fact, has occurred. And I think the market is now starting to understand that there are very significant things that are taking place at Boardwalk under Stan Horton. There's the recent gathering system that we announced that we're refinancing in the Marcellus shale. There's Petal and Hattiesburg acquisition, and likewise, there's the permission that we got from regulatory authorities to convert some of our pipelines near the Eagle Ford shale into wet gas pipelines from dry gas pipelines. So there's a lot of activity, and my sense is that at some point in time, the market is going to understand that Boardwalk's price has been very cheap relative to what its prospects were.

[David J. Adelman:]

And the debt that the JV takes on. I assume that that's going to be nonrecourse to Loews, the holding company?

[James S. Tisch:]

That is correct. And ideally, what will happen is -- drop-downs are very common in the MLP space. We would hope and expect that over the coming years, as Boardwalk is able to finance it, we will -- Loews or the JV will sell interest in Petal and Hattiesburg to Boardwalk so that the ultimate goal is that this will be 100% owned by Boardwalk.

[David J. Adelman:]

Okay. And then on the HighMount acquisition that was announced today, Jim, can you help us understand sort of the return profile and the general sense that you find attractive in looking at these kinds of properties? What's sort of the base case? How much variability is there around that when you bid?

[James S. Tisch:]

We foresee very attractive, very, very attractive double-digit IRRs from investments in this property. This property cost us $106 million. We think there could be more than 600 drilling sites, and that would mean drilling expenditures over the life of the properties in excess of $1.5 billion. And we see very attractive IRRs on that drilling investment.

[David J. Adelman:]

Okay. And then lastly, it's not a large operation, but the hotel business. You had good increases in average daily rates. The business more or less appears to be operating at a breakeven level. What needs to occur for that operation in aggregate to become materially more profitable than it is today? Does it need more scale? Do you need more properties? Is it simply a function of average daily rate continuing to go up? Or is there something else?

[James S. Tisch:]

I think it's all of the above. We need to fill out our portfolio in a number of key gateway cities, and we are looking at that. We're looking to do that both through owned properties, through joint venture properties and also through management deals. So we are and have been for the past few quarters and will be for the next several quarters reevaluating our growth strategy and then actually implementing it.

[Operator:]

[Operator Instructions] Your next question comes from Sam Yake of BGB Securities.

[Sam Yake:]

I just had 2 today. One was, I listened to the CNA conference call and read the results. It seems like, like you said, they're really improving their performance. And I'm just wondering, it must be frustrating for you to have owned 90% of it, and you have this 10% amount trading in the public market at what looks to me like an extraordinary discount. And yet, when I had tried to value Loews, everybody seems to value Loews off the public price of CNA. Is there anything you can do to close that gap between the publicly quoted value and what the true value is? I mean, I know there's not many levers you can pull, but what are your thoughts on that?

[James S. Tisch:]

I've tried to, in these calls -- check the transcripts over the past several years, I have tried to talk about how CNA is doing, the strategies that they've been putting in place. And now, I think we're seeing after the past 3 quarters that those strategies are actually starting to gain traction. Beyond that, I'm not going to stand out in front of the office with a sandwich board saying, "Buy CNA stock." Instead, as you can see, Loews has been buying its own stock, and the stock -- the price of Loews stock, I think, reflects the low valuation that CNA is receiving. So that's one of the reasons that gives us so much confidence buying in our own shares.

[Sam Yake:]

Okay. And one other question. When I look at the value of Loews, it seems to me that the tax issue's a pretty important one. And I'm just wondering, I don't think -- you've kind of disclosed your tax basis and your major assets in kind of a general way. But do you disclose anywhere like the specific numbers? And if you don't, is there a reason why you don't do that?

[James S. Tisch:]

We don't do that, and historically, we don't do that. Tax basis is a very simple item when it comes to your own portfolio. When it comes to subsidiaries and other corporate assets, it is phenomenally complicated and takes an enormous amount of effort, and we do not typically adjust the basis. We do not calculate the basis on either a quarterly nor annual basis. And I would say, likewise, I don't think there are any S&P 500 companies that actually do that.

[Operator:]

At this time, there are no further questions. I'll turn the call back to Mr. Daugherty for closing remarks.

[James S. Tisch:]

Let me just say something before Darren gets on. Bob Glasspiegel referred to it at the beginning of the call. We think this is Darren's last call on the Loews call. Darren has been here for a number of years and done admirable service. And so as a reward for all the fine work that he's done, he's moving to Houston and has become the Head of IR for Diamond Offshore, where there are a lot more callers in to the quarterly calls. There are a lot more analysts that follow the company, and he's staying dramatically more busy than he's been here at Loews. Take it away, Darren. You'll be among the missed here.

[Darren Daugherty:]

Thank you, Jim. It's been a wonderful opportunity to be at Loews. And thank you all for joining us on the call today. That concludes today's call.

[Operator:]

Thank you for participating in today's conference call. You may now disconnect.