Progressive upgraded at Piper after stronger than expected September results

Piper Sandler analyst Paul Newsome upgraded Progressive to Overweight from Neutral with a price target of $186, up from $133, following Progressive’s stronger than expected September results. The firm now believes that all the personal lines writers it follows will show underlying underwriting improvement and believe this will be a catalyst for the quarter as pricing and profitability are now both improving, the analyst tells investors. Piper estimates Progressive’s top-line growth for 2023 will be about 23% and about 17% in 2024, but that earnings growth “should be much faster,” with an estimate for almost 40% growth in 2024 and 27% in 2025.