Here's Why You Should Add CNO Financial to Your Portfolio Now

CNO Financial Group, Inc. CNO is well positioned to sustain growth, supported by solid collected premiums from its life and health insurance offerings, increasing new annualized premiums and higher fee-based income. Positive industry trends, pricing adjustments and ongoing investments in technology are also contributing to the company’s momentum.

CNO Financial — with a market cap of $3.9 billion — is a top-tier insurance company with $38.8 billion in total assets. It administers life and health insurance, workforce benefits solutions, annuities and financial services. Due to solid prospects, this currently Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) stock is worth investing in at the moment.

Let’s delve deeper.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for CNO Financial’s 2026 earnings is pegged at $4.38 per share, indicating a 7.4% year-over-year increase, followed by another 9.9% increase in 2027 to $4.82. The company has witnessed one upward estimate revision in the past month against no movement in the opposite direction. CNO beat on earnings in three of the last four quarters and met once, with an average surprise of 6.5%. Shares have gained 5.3% in the past year, outperforming the industry’s 2.5% decline.

CNO Financial Group, Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

CNO Financial Group, Inc. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | CNO Financial Group, Inc. Quote

The consensus estimate for 2026 and 2027 revenues stands at $4.02 billion and $4.13 billion, respectively. Improved collected premiums from life and health products are likely to support the top line. CNO’s high-quality and liquid portfolio is expected to produce solid and consistent results. More than 55% of the portfolio is invested in corporate and government bonds, which will ensure stable performance across credit cycles.

CNO Financial’s ROIC of 7.4% significantly exceeds the industry average of 2%, highlighting superior capital efficiency and indicating more disciplined investment allocation and execution than most peers. Its forward price-to-earnings of 9.23X is still below its five-year median of 9.53X.

Its shareholder-friendly capital returns remain robust. In 2024 and 2025, it returned around $358.5 million and $386.6 million through buybacks and dividends. It had $420.4 million still authorized for repurchases as of Dec. 31, 2025.

Risk to Monitor

CNO Financial’s long-term debt-to-capital stands at 58.9%, significantly above the industry's average of 29.1%. It exited the fourth quarter with unrestricted cash and cash equivalents of $956.1 million, which plunged 42.3% from the 2024-end level.

Nevertheless, we believe that a systematic and strategic plan of action will continue to drive its long-term growth.

Other Key Picks

Investors interested in the broader Finance space can also check other top-ranked companies like Aegon Ltd. AEG, Enact Holdings, Inc. ACT and Radian Group Inc. RDN, each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Aegon’s current-year earnings indicates a 187.5% year-over-year increase. Also, the consensus mark for Aegon’s current-year revenues suggests 211.4% year-over-year growth.

The consensus mark for Enact Holdings’ current-year earnings indicates a 4.8% year-over-year increase. It witnessed two upward estimate revisions over the past 60 days, against no downward movement. Furthermore, the consensus estimate for Enact Holdings’ current-year revenues is pegged at $1.26 billion.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Radian Group’s current-year earnings is pegged at $4.72 per share, which witnessed one upward revision over the past month, against no downward movement. It signals 6.1% year-over-year growth. The consensus estimate for Radian Group’s current-year revenues is pegged at $1.22 billion.