Three of the “Big Four” title insurers — First American Financial, Old Republic and Stewart Title — released their second-quarter earnings this week. Fidelity National will release its second-quarter earnings on Aug. 3.
First American reported $2.3 billion in total revenue for the second quarter, a 41% increase year over year and up from $2 billion in the first quarter of 2021. Net income in the second quarter was $302.3 million, or $2.72 per diluted share, compared with net income of $170.7 million, or $1.52 per diluted share, in the second quarter of 2020, said Dennis Gilmore, First American CEO.
“We also benefited from high productivity bolstered by our ongoing data and title automation initiatives,” Gilmore said in a release. “Our title segment posted a pretax margin of 19.1%, the highest in the company’s history.”
Stewart Title reported $802 million in total revenue for the second quarter. Net income in the second quarter was $94.8 million of net income, at $3.50 per diluted share. That’s up from $54.2 million net income, at $2.01 per diluted share, in the first quarter of 2021, and up from $34.1 million, at $1.44 per diluted share, for the second quarter 2020.
Stewart has been on an acquisition frenzy in the past 18 months, closing deals to acquire 13 companies — including Cloudvirga, NotaryCam, Pro Tek Valuation Intelligence, United States Appraisals, and A.S.K. Services, just in March.
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Old Republic reported total revenue of $2.25 billion in the second quarter of 2021, and a net income of $316.4 million — down from $2.36 billion and $502.1 million, respectively, in the first quarter of this year. On a per-share basis, the Chicago-based title company said it had a profit of $1.05. Earnings, adjusted for investment gains, came to 73 cents per share.
“Total and per share year-to-date net income reflect significant increases in the fair value of equity securities by comparison to 2020 when equity markets were disrupted by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Old Republic stated in a release. “Title Insurance continued to experience robust growth in premium and fee revenues as low interest rates and a favorable real estate market persisted.”
