LNC NYSE Russell 1000 Earnings call
Lincoln Financial (LNC) · Q1 2026 results and valuation
Share price: $42.56 · 2026-11-11
Results Q1 2026 vs Q4 2025 · previous quarter · published 7 May 2026 and 12 Feb 2026
Net income turned to a loss from a profit last quarter. Management sounded about as positive as a typical company call, in its script and in answers to analysts.
Only a basic analysis is available for this company at the moment.
1 · Numbers
Turned loss
Net income vs Q4 2025
Outlook given
Net income -172.0M vs 754.0M
Revenue +7.8%
2 · How management spoke
Typical
Less upbeat than 57% of company calls
Answers to analysts: typical, in line with the script.
Similar to last call.
3 · What stood out
Guidance
LNC expects sales this year to be in line with the average of the past several years as the company emphasizes its focus on RILA.
Valuation
Is Lincoln Financial undervalued?
Reverse DCF on net income from the last full fiscal year (no meaningful free cash flow: a bank, insurer or a year of negative cash flow) (2025-12-31), grown for 10 years, discounted back, plus a terminal value. “Implied growth” is the rate the current price assumes.
At −1.1% growth a year (3-year revenue growth), the model's fair value is $59.98 a share — the stock trades 29% below it. Today's price assumes −6.0% growth a year.
Current price
$42.56
close of 2026-11-11
Market implies growth of iThe yearly free-cash-flow growth, for the next 10 years, that today’s share price already assumes. If you believe the company grows faster than this, the stock is cheap under this model; slower, and it is expensive.
-6.0% for 10 yrs
Fair value / share
$59.98
Buy below
$44.98
Price vs fair value
Undervalued 29%
Price vs buy-below price
Undervalued 5%
Read between the lines
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Guidance
Group Protection is expected to become an increasingly meaningful contributor to Lincoln's higher-quality earnings profile.
Source quote
“Looking forward, we expect Group Protection to be an increasingly meaningful contributor to Lincoln's higher-quality earnings profile.”
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Figure
Life Insurance sales increased over 30% year-over-year due to growth across core Life and executive benefits.
Source quote
“Life Insurance produced solid earnings with sales up over 30% year-over-year, driven by growth across core Life and executive benefits.”
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Fading
Group delivered operating earnings of $493 million, which reflects the continued benefit of disciplined pricing actions and growth in premium, life and disability experience, and supplemental health.
Source quote
“Touching briefly on the full year, excluding the impact of our annual assumption review, Group delivered operating earnings of $493... ...67.9% was higher than the record low 64.7% we delivered a year ago, though it remains favorable compared to historical experience and reflects the continued benefit of our disciplined pricing actions. The improvement was broad-based, driven by premium growth of 7%, continued favorability in both life and disability experience, and meaningful growth in our supplemental health...”
Tone
How upbeat the language was, compared with other companiesiTone counts positive minus negative finance words, adjusted for length. Executives mostly speak positively, so the labels compare each call with every company's latest call: “typical” is the middle third, “very upbeat” the top tenth, “cautious” the bottom tenth.. Dot: Q1 2026. Ring: Q4 2025.
Script and answers carried a similar tone, so the script's message held up under questioning.
Sentences that drove the tone
“At the same time, we are advancing profitable growth across our businesses, balancing top line momentum with profitability and capital efficiency.”
“We are focused on balancing growth with profitability, with capital efficiency as we continue to grow here, and we're leveraging the strength of our distribution franchise to pivot across products.”
“Expense discipline remains a strategic priority across the organization, and we see continued opportunity to drive efficiency as we advance our transformation with an ongoing focus on leveraging technology to...”
Full figures
USD · SEC EDGAR XBRL (10-Q, period end 2026-03-31)
| Metric | Q1 2026period end 2026-03-31 | Q4 2025period end 2025-12-31 | Change | Q1 2025 | YoY |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | 5.31B | 4.92B | +7.8% | 4.69B | +13.1% |
| Operating income | -246.0M | 915.0M | Turned loss | -949.0M | Loss narrowed |
| Net income | -172.0M | 754.0M | Turned loss | -722.0M | Loss narrowed |
| EPS | -1.10 | 3.96 | Turned loss | -4.41 | Loss narrowed |
| P/E today 3.4 | 3.9 | 7.6 | −3.7 | 5.1 | −1.2 |
Topics
Most discussed now
- Lincoln Financial's first quarter results reflect continued execution with adjusted operating income increasing 16%, marking its seventh…
- The result this quarter was supported by favorable underwriting experience in Lincoln Financial's group and life businesses, continued…
- Group Protection had another strong quarter with earnings growth and margin...
- The result is consistent with the improvement Lincoln Financial has seen in recent quarters and with broader U.S.
- Given a few moving pieces this quarter, let's walk through the result on a sequential basis from the fourth quarter...
Faded since Q4 2025
- Fading The improvement was broad-based, driven by improved mortality, higher alternative investment returns, and the execution of Lincoln…
- Fading This result reflects strong execution across Lincoln Financial's businesses with year over year earnings growth driven by favorable…
- Fading Moving this income to nonoperating income provides a cleaner view of underlying annuities operating performance.
- Fading Builds the in-force base that will support durable earnings and free cash flow generation over time.
Latest announcements
Official filings, newest first.
- Director or officer change; Regulation FD disclosure · SEC 8-K
- Results of operations; Regulation FD disclosure · SEC 8-K
- Other events · SEC 8-K
- Shareholder vote results · SEC 8-K
- Results of operations; Regulation FD disclosure · SEC 8-K
- Director or officer change · SEC 8-K
- Material agreement · SEC 8-K
- Results of operations; Regulation FD disclosure · SEC 8-K