Loews Corporation (L) earnings preview: what to watch in Q3 2026

Loews Corporation will report its third-quarter 2026 results on Monday, November 2, 2026, according to the company's own press release of October 13, 2026. The release and written earnings remarks from CEO Ben Tisch and CFO Jane Wang will be posted on loews.com that day.

Loews is a holding company. Most of its profit comes from CNA Financial (a commercial property and casualty insurer, about 92% owned), Boardwalk Pipelines (natural gas pipelines and storage) and Loews Hotels & Co, so the quarter is really three businesses reporting at once.

What last quarter showed

From our Q2 2026 analysis:

• Net income attributable to Loews rose 13.6% to $444 million and diluted EPS rose 15.5% to $2.16 from $1.87, on total revenues of $4,734 million (+3.9%).
• CNA contributed $294 million (up $20 million), but the gain came from investments, not insurance. Net investment income rose $39 million to $701 million and realized investment losses shrank from $46 million to $5 million pre-tax. Meanwhile the combined ratio (claims plus expenses as a share of premiums earned; below 100% means the insurance itself made money) worsened to 96.5% from 94.1%, and CNA's core income fell to $324 million from $335 million.
• Boardwalk net income rose $12 million to $100 million, but EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, a rough gauge of the cash the pipelines generate) rose only $5 million, to $279 million.
• Hotels earned $48 million, up from $28 million, on higher room rates and $41 million of equity income from joint ventures, mainly the Universal Orlando properties.
• Buybacks: Loews repurchased 1.4 million shares for $148 million, and the diluted share count fell 1.8% year over year, which is why EPS grew faster than net income.

Guidance

Loews does not give earnings guidance, so there is no company target to measure the quarter against. The figures below are the ones our Q2 report flagged to watch.

What to watch on November 2

1. CNA's underlying loss ratio. The underlying loss ratio is claims excluding catastrophes and changes to old-year reserves, in other words the run-rate cost of this year's policies. It rose to 64.1% in Q2 from 61.5% a year earlier, and the underlying combined ratio rose 2.5 points to 94.2%, worse in all three of CNA's segments (Commercial, Specialty and International). The filing pointed to excess casualty and workers' compensation. If that ratio is flat or lower in Q3, price increases are catching up with claims costs; another rise would mean Loews' largest earnings source is still losing underwriting margin. Q3 is also the core of hurricane season, which Q2's $60 million of catastrophe losses did not test.

2. Legacy mass-tort reserves. CNA's run-off business took a $77 million after-tax charge in Q2 for adverse prior-year reserve development, "largely associated with legacy mass tort abuse reserves," after an $88 million charge in Q2 2025. A third charge of similar size would suggest the problem is recurring rather than a one-off.

3. Investment income, and whether it carries the quarter again. In Q2 the swing in realized investment losses was worth about $33 million to Loews after tax and minority interests, more than CNA's whole $20 million improvement. Investment returns are the least predictable part of the result, so check how much of any Q3 profit growth again comes from that line rather than underwriting, hotels or pipelines.

Two smaller items: Boardwalk's capital spending (first-half capex of $344 million against $122 million a year earlier, part of a roughly $3.4 billion growth program through 2030 that earns nothing until projects enter service), and the pace of buybacks, with $4.4 billion of cash and investments at the parent at June 30 against $1.8 billion of debt.

We will publish our analysis of the Q3 2026 results after Loews reports.

This preview is for information only and is not investment advice.