Slide’s diversification is a 2027 story
Slide Insurance held its second-quarter 2026 earnings call on July 29. Here are the key takeaways.
Slide’s diversification is a 2027 story
Slide has launched its California excess and surplus lines homeowners product and received approval to enter Rhode Island and New Jersey. But these markets remain small, and Florida will continue to account for most of the insurer’s premium through the end of 2026.
“The vast majority of premium through year-end is going to be Florida because of the size of the portfolio, but we expect that geographic mix to really change in a material way, as we head into 2027.”
California is starting with a handful of agents
Slide entered California in May but is taking a measured approach to the E&S market. It is initially working with a small group of agents before expanding distribution and accelerating growth toward the end of the year.
“There’s probably a couple of million in premium there already, but you start with beta test with a handful of agents. You then scale it over the next couple of quarters, as you add more producers to your network.”
Slide is managing growth around its reinsurance commitments
The company expects gross written premium to reach or potentially exceed its guidance of $1.85 billion to $1.95 billion. However, it is controlling exposure growth because writing more business than projected to reinsurers could trigger an additional payment.
“If we exceed the projections we gave to our reinsurers, there could be a very substantial true-up payment that would impact net income.”
Earnings may finish above guidance
Slide reaffirmed its full-year net income guidance of $455 million to $470 million despite earning $238.5 million during the first half. Management acknowledged that results are trending above the forecast but said it prefers to maintain conservative guidance during hurricane season.
“I think net income, we’re probably trending in the right direction to exceed those estimates for sure.”
Reinsurance prices declined by double digits
Slide secured a double-digit, risk-adjusted reduction in reinsurance rates while expanding its first-event tower by $1.4 billion and total capacity by more than $2 billion. The company said the larger program reflects its increased exposure rather than a change in its targeted protection level.
“What I can tell you is that on a risk-adjusted basis, we saw reinsurance rate declines that were double digit.”
Slide is buying more protection than its competitors
The company said its first-event protection extends to approximately a 180-year return period, compared with the 130-year return period it described as standard in Florida. Slide is using some of its reinsurance savings to purchase additional vertical and horizontal protection.
“We are buying a substantially larger reinsurance tower than our market competitors.”
Florida’s new entrants aren’t creating meaningful pressure
Slide is not seeing a material competitive impact from the latest insurers entering Florida. CEO Bruce Lucas said these companies have limited capital, underwriting capacity and reinsurance, leaving larger established carriers as Slide’s primary competitors.
“There are a couple of new entrants that squeaked in with the very minimum of capital. They can’t really write any business until after hurricane season because they don’t have reinsurance.”
Slide doesn’t expect lower rates to hurt margins
If Florida homeowners rates decline in response to lower reinsurance costs and improved loss experience, Slide expects its loss costs to move in the same direction. Management therefore believes the combined ratio can remain relatively stable even if premium levels fall.
“If rates do ultimately trend lower in Florida because of reinsurance pricing and loss ratios, your profit margins are going to be lockstep with whatever that decrease is.”
Florida litigation has been nearly halved
Slide said Florida’s share of US homeowners insurance litigation has fallen from 79% in 2020 to approximately 39%, evidence that the state’s tort reforms are working. Lawsuits continue, but eliminating one-way attorney fees and assignments of benefits has reduced attorneys’ ability to extract disproportionate settlements.
“We know that the tort reforms are working. They’ve cut down the number of lawsuits in Florida, but the plaintiff attorneys are still filing lawsuits every day.”
Slide is interested in M&A—but not at current prices
The insurer has spoken with several potential acquisition targets during the past six months but has not reached a deal because sellers’ expectations remain too high. Slide still sees opportunities to use M&A to add scale and enter new markets.
“We have not pulled the trigger on a deal just yet because price expectation from the target is simply too high.”
Excess capital is going back to shareholders for now
In the absence of an acquisition, Slide is returning capital through share repurchases and its first quarterly dividend. The insurer repurchased approximately 3 million shares during the quarter at an average price of $17.95 and introduced a dividend of $0.07 per share.
“We’re trying to find ways in the interim to deploy capital for the benefit of shareholder returns.”
