Loews Corporation
Q1 2012 Earnings Call Transcript

Published: 30 Apr 2012

[Operator:]

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Loews First Quarter 2012 Earnings Call. [Operator Instructions] I would now like to turn the conference over to Mary Skafidas, Vice President of Investor Relations. You may begin your conference.

[Mary Skafidas:]

Thank you, Paula, and good morning, everyone. I'd like to welcome you to Loews Corporation's First Quarter 2012 Earnings Conference Call. A copy of our earnings release may be found on our website, loews.com. In the call this morning, we have our Chief Executive Officer, Jim Tisch; and our Chief Financial Officer, Peter Keegan. Following 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 received by the company may differ materially from those projections made in any forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements reflect circumstances at the time they were 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 corporation's statutory forward-looking statements disclaimers, 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 reconciliation to the most comparable GAAP measures. Now I will turn the call over to Loews' Chief Executive Officer, Jim Tisch.

[James S. Tisch:]

Thank you, Mary. Good morning, and thank you all for joining us today to discuss Loews' first quarter results. Overall, our first quarter financial results were solid. As you know by now, we reported earnings per share of $0.92 for the quarter, which matched the $0.92 per share that Loews earned in the first quarter of 2011. Our book value per share at quarter end was $48.96 a share, a 3.4% increase over our book value per share at year end. Underlying these financial results are the actions being taken by each of our subsidiaries to set value-creating strategies and to achieve operational excellence. Let's take a closer look at each of our subsidiaries beginning with CNA. Under Tom Motamed, CNA continues to improve its core P&C operations, which included specialty insurance and commercial insurance businesses. The CNA team is executing strategies to achieve the dual goals of growth and underwriting profitability. Adjusting for the sale of its 50% stake in First Insurance Company of Hawaii during the fourth quarter of 2011, CNA achieved growth in net premiums written in its P&C operations of 5%. This strong growth came from 3 main factors

[Peter W. Keegan:]

Thanks, Jim, and good morning, everyone. Loews Corporation today reported net income of $367 million or $0.92 per share for the first quarter of 2012 as compared to $379 million or $0.92 per share in the first quarter of 2011. The slight decrease in the first quarter was due to lower earnings at HighMount and Diamond Offshore. These decreases were offset partially by higher earnings at CNA and increased investment income at the holding company. CNA's contribution to Loews' net income for the first quarter was $226 million as compared to $199 million in 2011. The increase was due to lower catastrophe losses in increased investment income, especially in limited partnership results. Diamond Offshore's contribution to net income for the first quarter 2012 was $87 million compared to $117 million in the prior-year quarter. Results for the first quarter were impacted by lower utilization, including planned downtime, the impact of lower day rates from contract rollovers on 5 rigs and higher rig downtime for mobilization, prepping and stacking. Additionally, there were higher contract drilling expenses reflecting the higher costs of operating rigs internationally rather than domestically. Boardwalk Pipeline's contribution to net income for the first quarter increased to $35 million from $33 million in the prior-year quarter. The increase in net income was partially the result of the acquisition of HP Storage and lower interest expense, which was modestly offset by the continuing decline in natural gas prices and lower throughput primarily from mild winter weather. As Jim mentioned, HighMount recorded a net loss of $22 million for the first quarter of 2012 compared to net income of $19 million in the first quarter 2011. The lower results were due to a non-cash cost center ceiling test impairment charge of $28 million after taxes related to the carrying value of its natural gas and oil properties, as well as decreased sales volumes stemming from a reduction in drilling activity and declines in natural gas prices. HighMount's production volumes and realized prices in the first quarter are as follows

[Mary Skafidas:]

Thank you, Pete, and thank you, Jim. Paula, we're ready for our Q&A session of the call. Could you please give participants instructions for asking questions?

[Operator:]

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

[Robert Glasspiegel:]

Is your carrying value for HighMount $2 billion now after the write-down?

[James S. Tisch:]

Pete's looking that up.

[Robert Glasspiegel:]

Okay. Second is booking [ph] question, the -- how do we get from what Boardwalk reports to what you report? The $285 million, which I guess was assumed that they had it for all 3 months on their books, was there any sort of implied interest that goes to Loews? Or is this just that it never happened for the quarter? I'm just wondering how that sidecar earnings went through the numbers.

[Peter W. Keegan:]

We did not pick up any interest from that expense. We just picked up earnings during the period in which we held it.

[Robert Glasspiegel:]

But based on their books, they owned it for the whole quarter, I think they said.

[Peter W. Keegan:]

Right, they used purchase accounting, which pushed it back to January 1. And obviously, whatever duplication there is, is illuminated in consolidation.

[Robert Glasspiegel:]

So how do we get from what they -- just roughly, how do we get from what the earnings they reported...

[Peter W. Keegan:]

You're talking about a very minor adjustment, Bob. Just -- I mean, just take their numbers. It's not a big deal.

[Robert Glasspiegel:]

Okay. When the hedges run out for HighMount, is it sort of roughly a breakeven operation to you on a reported basis? Or what's the rough earnings power?

[James S. Tisch:]

I'm not exactly sure. I’ll have to get back to you on that.

[Robert Glasspiegel:]

I guess the question is does it make money or lose money is the question.

[James S. Tisch:]

Let me put it to you this way. It does not make sense for us to drill for natural gas at $2 an Mcf. And in fact, we are not drilling in the Permian Basin for dry gas, nor are we drilling anywhere for dry gas. The only drilling that is going on now is looking for wet gas and also oil.

[Robert Glasspiegel:]

Got you on that. I’m just -- for modeling purposes, I just want to know how we think about this unit looking out to next year.

[Peter W. Keegan:]

To answer your question, at the end of the first quarter, HighMount's total assets were $2.8 billion.

[Robert Glasspiegel:]

I was actually looking for carrying value, which I think is around $2 billion.

[Peter W. Keegan:]

Well, our equity is $2 billion. The equity is $2 billion.

[Operator:]

Your next question comes from David Adelman of Morgan Stanley.

[David J. Adelman:]

Jim, are you -- will you make any comment about the pacing of share repurchases looking backwards, over, say, the last 6 months? They've been pretty modest.

[James S. Tisch:]

I'm not -- as you know, I'm not going to comment on that.

[David J. Adelman:]

Okay. And then secondly, at HighMount, will these non-cash impairments be reversed if natural gas prices were substantially higher?

[James S. Tisch:]

No. But what will happen is the amortization that we will have going forward on gas that's produced will be lower. So in essence, it will come back invisibly into earnings over time as the gas is produced.

[Operator:]

Your next question comes from Andy Baker of Barclays.

[Andrew Baker:]

Couple of questions, Jim. You were talking about the increase in demand and decrease in supply of natural gas hitting equilibrium. Is that a 2013 event, do you think? Is that earlier, later? How should we think about when that sort of -- should sort of kick in?

[James S. Tisch:]

It's a process that will occur over a number of years. And it's a process, first of all, because in terms of demand for natural gas, it will take time for people to make the capital equipment changes that they need to make in order to be able to consume natural gas in trucks and trains and even in the oil patch. And likewise, for supply of natural gas, my guess is that there is still some small amount of drilling that's going on for dry gas. There are a lot of reasons for that, such as people trying to hold property by production and the like. But over time, if gas prices stay down here, my guess is that a lot of that gas -- a lot of that drilling will stop. We've seen, for example, over the past few weeks a number of producers in the Haynesville say that they are going -- they're laying down their rigs, and they're not going to start to drill for dry gas there again until prices get to somewhere between $4 and $4.50 per Mcf. The Haynesville, going back a year or 2, was one of the most prolific and the most profitable areas to produce natural gas. So we are seeing, in terms of producer plans to drill for dry gas, that they are no longer drilling or they're planning not to drill, and they're going to wait a good long time until prices get back to reasonable levels so they can earn a rate of return on their investment. Now that's different in drilling for wet gas. With wet gas, not only do you get natural gas, dry natural gas, but you also get natural gas liquids. And natural gas liquids, to a large extent, are priced off of oil. So oftentimes, people can drill for wet gas, which can represent 30% or 40% of the BTUs produced, but since the wet gas, propane -- since the wet gas constituents, the liquids, propane, butane, isobutane, natural gasoline and a few others, since those are priced off of oil, then in essence, the producer doesn't really care so much about the price of natural gas because the price of the liquids so dramatically outweighs the value of the natural gas that's being produced.

[Andrew Baker:]

So then given your sort of long-term view in general and your tremendous pool of capital, does it make sense for you to go out there and take dry gas reserves off peoples’ hands with a 5-year time horizon from those people who may only have a 1-year time horizon?

[James S. Tisch:]

We’re always looking, but the problem is that they are not stupid in the market. If you look at the forward price for natural gas in the futures market, that anticipates that -- it anticipates that the recovery is going to come back to natural gas prices over the next 2 or 3 years. So my prediction of $4.50 natural gas prices is not substantially different from the futures market. And the people that are actually selling properties today are able to sell on the basis of the forward price for natural gas, not the spot prices. So to date, we haven't found any veritable bargains.

[Andrew Baker:]

Even though the forward has been proven incorrect so far?

[James S. Tisch:]

That's right. This year is going to be a little different though, I think, because, come the end of October, or even before the end of October, the storage facilities in the United States may be full. And so production will have to decline to meet that end of storage season, and prices will have to decline. But after that, it's unclear what will happen to prices. It's possible that production will have -- goes down enough that prices could start to accelerate meaningfully.

[Andrew Baker:]

And one last question. Given the S&P is back to 1,400 and the interest rates are still low, can you give us your thoughts on how you think about investing the $3.7 billion of corporate cash?

[James S. Tisch:]

Yes, we really haven't changed too much. We have like $500 million or $600 million of equities and a slightly greater amount of limited partnership investment, and then beyond that, we’re fixed income and treasury bills.

[Operator:]

Your next question comes from Sam Yake of BGB Securities.

[Sam Yake:]

I was wondering on -- you made some comments about your hotels segment, which is kind of small, and you haven't talked much about it in recent years. I'm just wondering, what are your thoughts on potentially creating like a REIT structure, kind of like what you did with Boardwalk and then creating a vehicle for the hotel business?

[James S. Tisch:]

Right now, we don't have any plans for that. Right now, we are interested in growing our hotel business in what we would call an asset-like manner. And we understand that to do that may require bridge financing from Loews similar to the bridge financing that we've provided to Boardwalk for their acquisition earlier this year. But we are looking at a number of different opportunities, and we're hopeful that over the coming years, that our hotel business can grow.

[Sam Yake:]

Okay. And then you mentioned you have $3.7 billion of holding company cash. What's kind of like the minimum amount you'd want to have?

[James S. Tisch:]

We have -- well, first, we have $3.7 billion of holding company cash and investments. And historically, that cash balance has not gone below $1.5 billion or $2 billion.

[Operator:]

[Operator Instructions] Your next question comes from Michael Millman of Millman Research Associates.

[Michael Millman:]

On the hotel business, are you talking about or looking into doing management and/or franchising out the brand?

[James S. Tisch:]

We are not looking to franchise the brand. We have historically done hotel management. We have a number of hotels under management, and we're looking to continue doing that, as well as take equity investments in hotels.

[Michael Millman:]

Okay. And regarding gas, what's the breakeven for drilling for shale-related gas?

[James S. Tisch:]

You mean dry gas?

[Michael Millman:]

For dry gas. Is that...

[James S. Tisch:]

Well, the -- I mentioned, for example, the Haynesville that producers are saying that they're not going to start drilling again until they get to $4 to $4.50 natural gas prices. That's just one particular area. But it's -- some shales are a bit higher, some shales are a bit lower, but that's approximately where a producer can earn a reasonable rate of return on his investment. Now a lot will be driven by the cost of drilling services and tracking services, and that can be move dramatically over time, so when I say $4 to $4.50, we're really talking about a moving target.

[Michael Millman:]

That's what I was trying to get to a little bit more. And regarding the share repurchase, can you mention whether you had any blackout periods during the last couple of quarters?

[James S. Tisch:]

No. No, I'm not going to mention whether we had any blackout periods.

[Operator:]

At this time, there are no further questions. I would now like to turn the floor back over to Mary Skafidas for any closing remarks.

[Mary Skafidas:]

Great. Thank you, Paula, and thank you all for your continued interest. A replay will be available on our website, loews.com, in approximately 2 hours. That concludes the call for today.

[Operator:]

Thank you for your participation in today's call. You may now disconnect.