RLI (NYSE:RLI) Reports Sales Below Analyst Estimates In Q1 CY2026 Earnings

Specialty insurance provider RLI (NYSE:RLI) missed Wall Street’s revenue expectations in Q1 CY2026, with sales falling 2.4% year on year to $423.9 million. Its non-GAAP profit of $0.83 per share was 6.1% above analysts’ consensus estimates.

Is now the time to buy RLI? Find out by accessing our full research report, it’s free.

Company Overview

Founded in 1965 and named after its original focus on "replacement lens insurance" for contact lens wearers, RLI (NYSE:RLI) is a specialty insurance company that underwrites property, casualty, and surety products through wholesale brokers, independent agents, and carrier partnerships.

Revenue Growth

Insurance companies earn revenue from three primary sources: 1) The core insurance business itself, often called underwriting and represented in the income statement as premiums 2) Income from investing the “float” (premiums collected upfront not yet paid out as claims) in assets such as fixed-income assets and equities 3) Fees from various sources such as policy administration, annuities, or other value-added services. Thankfully, RLI’s 13.3% annualized revenue growth over the last five years was excellent. Its growth beat the average insurance company and shows its offerings resonate with customers, a helpful starting point for our analysis.

Long-term growth is the most important, but within financials, a half-decade historical view may miss recent interest rate changes and market returns. RLI’s annualized revenue growth of 9.5% over the last two years is below its five-year trend, but we still think the results suggest healthy demand.

Note: Quarters not shown were determined to be outliers, impacted by outsized investment gains/losses that are not indicative of the recurring fundamentals of the business.

This quarter, RLI missed Wall Street’s estimates and reported a rather uninspiring 2.4% year-on-year revenue decline, generating $423.9 million of revenue.

Net premiums earned made up 92.1% of the company’s total revenue during the last five years, meaning RLI lives and dies by its underwriting activities because non-insurance operations barely move the needle.

Markets consistently prioritize net premiums earned growth over investment and fee income, recognizing its superior quality as a core indicator of the company’s underwriting success and market penetration.

ALSO WORTH WATCHING: Nvidia’s Quiet Partner. Nvidia’s chips cost a hundred grand. The connectors that make them work cost even more. One company makes them all.

Every AI server needs specialized infrastructure the chip companies don’t make. High-speed cables. Power connectors. Thermal sensors. This 90-year-old company built a monopoly on it. The AI boom just started. This stock is still flying under the radar. Claim The Stock Ticker Here for FREE.

Book Value Per Share (BVPS)

Insurance companies are balance sheet businesses, collecting premiums upfront and paying out claims over time. The float – premiums collected but not yet paid out – are invested, creating an asset base supported by a liability structure. Book value captures this dynamic by measuring:

• Assets (investment portfolio, cash, reinsurance recoverables) - liabilities (claim reserves, debt, future policy benefits)

BVPS is essentially the residual value for shareholders.

We therefore consider BVPS very important to track for insurers and a metric that sheds light on business quality. While other (and more commonly known) per-share metrics like EPS can sometimes be lumpy due to reserve releases or one-time items and can be managed or skewed while still following accounting rules, BVPS reflects long-term capital growth and is harder to manipulate.

RLI’s BVPS grew at a decent 8.9% annual clip over the last five years. The last two years show a similar trajectory as BVPS grew by 8.4% annually from $16.63 to $19.54 per share.

Over the next 12 months, Consensus estimates call for RLI’s BVPS to grow by 12.6% to $21.11, solid growth rate.

Key Takeaways from RLI’s Q1 Results

We enjoyed seeing RLI beat analysts’ net premiums earned expectations this quarter. On the other hand, its revenue missed and its book value per share fell short of Wall Street’s estimates. Overall, this quarter was mixed. The stock remained flat at $57.10 immediately after reporting.

Is RLI an attractive investment opportunity right now? If you’re making that decision, you should consider the bigger picture of valuation, business qualities, as well as the latest earnings. We cover that in our actionable full research report which you can read here (it’s free).