Global insurance giant MetLife (NYSE: MET) fell short of the market’s revenue expectations in Q1 CY2026 as sales only rose 1.3% year on year to $19.07 billion. Its non-GAAP profit of $2.42 per share was 6.6% above analysts’ consensus estimates.
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MetLife (MET) Q1 CY2026 Highlights:
- Net Premiums Earned: $12.12 billion vs analyst estimates of $11.65 billion (6.4% year-on-year decline, 4% beat)
- Revenue: $19.07 billion vs analyst estimates of $19.41 billion (1.3% year-on-year growth, 1.7% miss)
- Pre-tax Profit: $1.51 billion (7.9% margin)
- Adjusted EPS: $2.42 vs analyst estimates of $2.27 (6.6% beat)
- Book Value per Share: $37.92 vs analyst estimates of $58.37 (7.1% year-on-year decline, 35% miss)
- Market Capitalization: $51.72 billion
Company Overview
Founded in 1863 by a group of New York businessmen during the Civil War era, MetLife (NYSE: MET) is a global financial services company that provides insurance, annuities, employee benefits, and asset management services to individuals and businesses worldwide.
Revenue Growth
In general, insurance companies earn revenue from three primary sources. The first is the core insurance business itself, often called underwriting and represented in the income statement as premiums earned. The second source is investment income from investing the “float” (premiums collected upfront not yet paid out as claims) in assets such as fixed-income assets and equities. The third is fees from various sources such as policy administration, annuities, or other value-added services. Unfortunately, MetLife’s 3.2% annualized revenue growth over the last five years was sluggish. This fell short of our benchmark for the insurance sector and is a poor baseline for our analysis.
We at StockStory place the most emphasis on long-term growth, but within financials, a half-decade historical view may miss recent interest rate changes, market returns, and industry trends. MetLife’s annualized revenue growth of 4.4% over the last two years is above its five-year trend, which is encouraging. 
Note: Quarters not shown were determined to be outliers, impacted by outsized investment gains/losses that are not indicative of the recurring fundamentals of the business.
This quarter, MetLife’s revenue grew by 1.3% year on year to $19.07 billion, falling short of Wall Street’s estimates.
Net premiums earned made up 69.1% of the company’s total revenue during the last five years, meaning insurance operations are MetLife’s largest source of revenue.
Net premiums earned commands greater market attention due to its reliability and consistency, whereas investment and fee income are often seen as more volatile revenue streams that fluctuate with market conditions.
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Book Value Per Share (BVPS)
Insurance companies are balance sheet businesses, collecting premiums upfront and paying out claims over time. The float–premiums collected but not yet paid out–are invested, creating an asset base supported by a liability structure. Book value per share (BVPS) captures this dynamic by measuring these assets (investment portfolio, cash, reinsurance recoverables) less liabilities (claim reserves, debt, future policy benefits). BVPS is essentially the residual value for shareholders.
We therefore consider BVPS very important to track for insurers and a metric that sheds light on business quality because it reflects long-term capital growth and is harder to manipulate than more commonly-used metrics like EPS.
MetLife’s BVPS declined at a 12.7% annual clip over the last five years. On a two-year basis, BVPS fell at a slower pace, dropping by 2.5% annually from $39.87 to $37.92 per share.
Over the next 12 months, Consensus estimates call for MetLife’s BVPS to grow by 70.3% to $58.37, elite growth rate.
Key Takeaways from MetLife’s Q1 Results
We were impressed by how significantly MetLife blew past analysts’ net premiums earned expectations this quarter. We were also glad its EPS outperformed Wall Street’s estimates. On the other hand, its book value per share missed and its revenue fell short of Wall Street’s estimates. Overall, this was a softer quarter. The stock remained flat at $80.22 immediately after reporting.
So should you invest in MetLife right now? The latest quarter does matter, but not nearly as much as longer-term fundamentals and valuation, when deciding if the stock is a buy. We cover that in our actionable full research report which you can read here (it’s free).
