W. R. Berkley's Q2 2026 EPS rose 15% to $1.15 on lighter catastrophe losses, smaller currency losses and record $418.7M investment income, while renewal price increases slowed to 3.5% and the combined ratio improved to 90.0%.
Net premiums written
$3.4B
+2.4% YoY
Combined ratio
90.0%
Net income
$452M
+12.7% YoY
Diluted EPS
$1.15
+15.0% YoY
Loss ratio
61.5%
Catastrophe losses
$62M
Book value per share
$26.50
+8.2% YoY
Net premiums written (NPW): insurance sold in the period, after the share passed on to reinsurers. Combined ratio: claims plus expenses per dollar of premium earned; below 100% means the insurance business itself made money before investment income. Loss ratio: the claims part alone.
How WRB compares with Financials peers
Figure
WRB
Peer median
Rank
Combined ratio (lower is better)
90.0%
88.7%
3rd of 4
Premiums written growth
+2.4%
+3.3%
3rd of 4
EPS growth (YoY)
+15.0%
+15.3%
3rd of 4
Rank 1 = lowest combined ratio, fastest premium growth, fastest EPS growth. Peers are the other Financials companies with a 2026 report on this site, each at its latest period we've analyzed; fiscal calendars differ, so periods are not always the same months.
W. R. Berkley, one of the largest US commercial insurers (it covers businesses rather than households), grew second-quarter 2026 net income 12.7% to $452.3 million, or $1.15 per diluted share, up from $1.00. Most of the gain came from three sources outside core pricing: catastrophe losses fell from $99.2 million to $62.4 million, currency losses shrank from $55.4 million to $2.0 million, and investment income hit a record $418.7 million. The main business, underwriting commercial insurance, held steady rather than improved. Price increases on renewing policies slowed to 3.5%, and the Insurance segment's underlying loss ratio edged up.
At a glance
Combined ratio of 90.0% (91.6% a year ago). Berkley paid out about 90 cents in claims and expenses for every dollar of premium it earned, so it made a profit on the insurance itself before counting any investment returns. Lighter storm losses account for most of the 1.6-point improvement.
Net investment income of $418.7 million, up 10.4%. This now exceeds the $317.5 million pre-tax underwriting profit. Much of it comes from a bond portfolio that is 8% larger than a year ago and yields 5.0%.
Renewal rate increases of 3.5% (3.8% excluding workers' compensation). A year ago the ex-workers'-comp figure was 7.6%, and the first-half 2026 average was 5.6%. Pricing is decelerating, and that matters most for next year's margins.
Key figures
Metric
Q2 2026
Q2 2025
YoY Change
Gross premiums written
$4,144.0M
$3,977.8M
+4.2%
Net premiums written
$3,430.2M
$3,351.4M
+2.4%
Read 0 community reports on W. R. Berkley Corporation, or write your own.Write a report
Source: Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2026 and the July 20, 2026 earnings release. Book value per share is at June 30 of each year.
A quick glossary for the table. Net premiums written is the premium Berkley keeps after passing part of its risk to reinsurers. The loss ratio is claims (including the cost of handling them) as a share of earned premium. The expense ratio is commissions and overhead on the same basis. Add the two and you get the combined ratio: below 100% means an underwriting profit, above 100% an underwriting loss.
Where the growth came from
Pre-tax income rose $53.3 million, to $575.2 million. In pre-tax terms, the main moving parts were:
Underwriting profit up $56.8 million (+21.8% to $317.5 million). About $37 million of that is simply lower catastrophe losses. Management attributes last year's $99 million to "frequency of severe storms." The accident-year combined ratio excluding catastrophes, which strips out storms and changes to old claim estimates, improved only 0.3 points to 88.1%.
Currency losses down $53.4 million, from $55.4 million to $2.0 million. The 10-Q says the US dollar weakened against other major currencies "to a lesser degree" than in Q2 2025. This has nothing to do with running the business.
Net investment income up $39.4 million. Income from bonds rose $38 million, "mainly driven by a larger fixed maturity securities portfolio." Average invested assets were $33.8 billion, up 8%.
Investment gains and losses down $86.2 million, from a $31.0 million gain to a $55.2 million loss. That covers $37.1 million of realized losses on sales plus an $18.0 million drop in the value of equity holdings, against a $63.6 million increase a year ago.
The effective tax rate fell from 23.2% to 21.4% on a "more favorable geographical mix of earnings," which the 10-Q values at about $10 million.
The two segments are heading in opposite directions
Insurance (about 91% of net premiums written) grew net premiums written 3.7% to $3,124.0 million. Professional liability led with net premiums up 11.6%, to $333.4 million. Short-tail lines (property, marine, accident & health and similar) rose 4.0%. Other liability, the largest line, rose 2.3%. The segment's combined ratio improved to 91.4% from 92.1%, but only because catastrophe losses fell to $59.8 million from $77.6 million. Its loss ratio excluding catastrophes and prior-year reserve changes rose 0.3 points to 61.0%. That figure is the cleanest read on whether pricing is keeping up with claims costs, and in the larger segment it moved slightly the wrong way.
Reinsurance & Monoline Excess is shrinking and becoming more profitable. Net premiums written fell 9.3% to $306.3 million: casualty reinsurance premiums dropped 13.8% and property 4.3%. The combined ratio improved to 79.3% from 87.4%. Catastrophe losses almost disappeared ($2.6 million versus $21.6 million), and the underlying loss ratio fell 5.5 points to 48.6%. The filing doesn't give a reason for the decline, but alongside management's stress on "business that offers appropriate risk-adjusted returns," it reads as selective pullback: the segment is smaller but earns more per dollar.
What the headline numbers hide
Cash conversion is strong. Operating cash flow was $800.0 million in the quarter against $452.3 million of net income (about 1.8x). For the half year it was $1,467.9 million against $967.5 million. For an insurer this is normal: premiums arrive long before claims are paid, and that float is what feeds the growing bond portfolio.
Reserves were essentially untouched, so they did not flatter the result. Insurers set aside reserves for claims already incurred but not yet paid. When they later decide those reserves were too high, the release boosts profit ("favorable development"). Berkley's net prior-year development was about $1 million favorable in both Q2 2026 and Q2 2025. For the half year, $10 million of favorable development in Reinsurance offset $7 million of adverse development in Insurance. The 10-Q says the adverse part came from "other liability and auto liability" (umbrella and commercial auto claims). Those are the liability lines to watch for further reserve additions.
GAAP vs operating earnings. Management's operating income ($497.1 million, $1.27 per share) excludes after-tax investment gains and losses and currency gains and losses. This quarter both of those were losses (pre-tax $55.2 million and $2.0 million), so operating EPS is 12 cents above GAAP EPS. A year ago the gap was only 5 cents, because an investment gain partly offset a large currency loss.
Buybacks added about 2 points to EPS growth. Diluted shares fell 2.1% to 391.8 million. Berkley repurchased 6.2 million shares for $413.9 million in the first half, $111.5 million of it in Q2. Net income grew 12.7% and EPS 15.0%. The share count fell further to 371.1 million at quarter end (excluding a grantor trust), from 379.4 million a year earlier.
Book value growth came after large payouts. Book value per share rose 8.2% year on year to $26.50 and 3.0% since December ($25.72). That is after $185.5 million of special dividends in Q2 alone. It also absorbed a rise in after-tax unrealized losses on the bond portfolio, from $125 million to $317 million, which comes from interest-rate moves rather than credit problems (average rating AA-).
Lower "audit premiums." These are adjustments collected after a policy ends, based on a customer's actual payroll or sales. They fell to $65 million from $86 million. That is a small drag on earned premium and a modest signal of slower customer activity.
Takeaway: Berkley's 15% EPS gain rests mostly on items it doesn't control: a quieter storm quarter, smaller currency losses and a lower tax rate. The durable part is investment income, which is compounding at about 10% a year on a 5.0% yield. Underwriting is holding a very good ~88% underlying combined ratio, but renewal price increases have halved from a year ago while the Insurance segment's underlying loss ratio ticked up. The margin cushion is thinning slowly, not growing.
Outlook
Management gives no numeric guidance. Chairman and CEO W. Robert Berkley, Jr. said the company continues "to see attractive opportunities across select liability lines." He also said current reinvestment rates "continue to exceed our annual book yield." With a 3.2-year portfolio duration, bonds roll over quickly into those higher yields. That supports continued growth in investment income, which is the most predictable earnings driver here.
The question for the next few quarters is underwriting. Renewal rate increases fell from 7.6% (ex-workers' comp) a year ago to 3.8%, while the Insurance segment's underlying loss ratio already rose. If rate increases stay at this level, the Insurance segment's underlying loss ratio (61.0%, up 0.3 points) will likely keep creeping up. The overall combined ratio would then drift from the high-80s underlying level toward 90% even in a normal catastrophe year. Reinsurance is shrinking, and its excellent margins do less to offset that each quarter. Q3 contains the peak of the Atlantic hurricane season, so catastrophe losses are the main swing factor for the next report.
Other items to watch:
Whether Berkley keeps paying special dividends ($0.50 per share in Q2) and buying back stock. Its repurchase authorization was raised to 25 million shares on June 3, 2026.
Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance's stake, which stood at 15.8% of shares outstanding at June 30. Under an agreement with the Berkley family, its designee joined the board at the 2026 annual meeting.