Now that we know the stock Berkshire Hathaway was secretly buying since last summer is Chubb, the Swiss insurance company, the reviews are coming in.
CNBC’s Jim Cramer likes its valuation, saying on Mad Money’s Rapid Fire segment the insurer is the “[b]est there is. Really rather amazing. Takes the least credit risk.”
On The Motley Fool, Billy Duberstein writes that Chubb and other insurers “have been able to raise their premium rates substantially as the market ‘hardened’ for multiple years in a row.”
Losses from extreme weather events, more lawsuits with larger judgments, higher replacement costs, and rising interest rates pushed some insurers out of their markets, allowing those that survived, like Chubb, to charge more for premiums.
Another positive factor is the possibility Berkshire could try to buy the entire company. “While that may be a lower-probability event at this point, it’s certainly a possibility, and another reason to view Chubb as an attractive investment today.”
