Unum beats Wall Street amid small gains

Unum beat analyst expectations with a strong performance for the fourth quarter, posting after-tax operating gains of $225 million in the fourth quarter of 2012, or 82 cents per share.

The Chattanooga-based insurer beat its own fourth-quarter 2011 results of 78 cents per share, or $228.2 million, as well as Wall Street predictions of 77 cents per share, according to results the company released on Tuesday.

"We continued to generate solid results across much of the company and showed modest improvement in those areas which had been operating below our expectations," said Tom Watjen, president and CEO of the company.

The company's higher per-share earnings compared with its lower overall earnings are due to a large-scale share buyback program that has reduced the number of overall shares available.

For the year, the company earned $887.5 million, or $3.15 per share, compared to earnings in 2011 of $905.4 million, or $2.98 per share.

More details is Wednesday's Chattanooga Times Free Press.

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