Prudential Financial, Inc. (PRU) — Fundamental Analysis & Key Financial Ratios

Kaplio's reading: Prudential Financial, Inc.

Updated on October 14, 2026 · accounts published on August 4, 2026

Reading of October 13, 2026: A profitable insurer with rising earnings

Prudential Financial trades at a P/E of 10.2×, 23 % below the insurance sector median, with a 4.9 % dividend yield.

• Is Prudential Financial expensive or cheap? At 1.2× book value with a 12 % ROE, it sits under the 1.5× insurers can justify; its P/E is 23 % below the sector median.
• How is the business doing? EPS rose 36 % over the last 12 months while revenue fell 14 %, lifting the operating margin to 7.7 %.
• Does it underwrite with discipline and build book value? Book value per share shrank 10.1 % a year over fiscal 2020-2025, against the 8 % annual growth that marks a healthy insurer.
• How strong is the balance sheet? Debt to equity of 0.65 is above the 0.3 insurers consider prudent; the dividend yields 4.9 % after 11 years of increases.
• What to expect from the next earnings? Analysts expect EPS of $3.47 on November 3, 2026, below the $4.08 Prudential Financial reported last quarter.

Is Prudential Financial expensive or cheap?

Prudential Financial trades at 1.2 times book value over the last 12 months, and its ROE over the same period is 12 %. For an insurer with mid-range profitability, a P/B of up to 1.5× is healthy, so the market is not paying a premium for the equity. The P/E of 10.2× points the same way. It is 23 % below the sector median of 13.3× and almost exactly on its ten-year median of 10.1×. The stock traded at a lower P/E than today 52 % of the time over the last decade. After rising 17 % over the last 12 months, the shares sit 9 % below their 52-week high of $125.13.

How is the business doing?

The last 12 months show a split picture. Revenue fell 14 % year on year, yet EPS climbed 36 %. Profitability is drifting upward. The operating margin of 7.7 % is above both the 7.6 % of fiscal 2025 and the 6.8 % average for fiscal 2014-2025. The net margin stands at 5.9 % and the ROE at 12 %, in the middle of the 8 % to 14 % band used to judge insurers. Earnings are growing much faster than the top line, so the company is keeping more of each dollar of revenue even as sales shrink.

Does it underwrite with discipline and build book value?

Insurers make money in two ways: by underwriting well and by investing the float. That is how Buffett built Berkshire. This is why the sector is judged on average margins and book value growth rather than on sales. Prudential Financial falls short on both. Its operating margin averaged 5.9 % over fiscal 2021-2025, below the 10 % that marks a healthy insurer. Book value per share fell 10.1 % a year between fiscal 2020 and 2025, against a benchmark of 8 % annual growth. A shrinking book makes the modest P/B less reassuring than it first looks.

How strong is the balance sheet?

Leverage is the weak spot. Debt to equity stands at 0.65 over the last 12 months, more than twice the 0.3 ceiling considered prudent for insurers. Shareholder returns are the strength. The dividend yields 4.9 % and has risen for 11 consecutive fiscal years through 2025, just past the ten-year mark that makes an insurer a dividend aristocrat. The payout used 54 % of fiscal 2025 earnings, which leaves room to keep raising it if profits hold. Even so, the streak is still close to the threshold.

What to expect from the next earnings?

Prudential Financial reports on November 3, 2026, and analysts expect EPS of $3.47. That is below the $4.08 it reported on August 4, 2026, which beat the $3.52 estimate by 16 %. The company has beaten EPS estimates in 6 of the last 8 quarters, so it has usually cleared the bar. The 2026 EPS consensus barely moved in the last 29 days, from $14.35 to $14.40 across 9 analysts, and revenue estimates are just as stable. Of 37 analysts, 25 rate the stock hold, 7 buy and 5 sell, which is a lukewarm stance.

How this was prepared: the data comes from companies' official filings, collected by a professional provider, and from Kaplio's analysis engine (trailing-12-month ratios, 10 years of history and sector medians computed across US-listed companies). The text is written from that data alone, every figure is checked against it before publication, and it is reviewed when the company reports results. This is not investment advice.