Investment house Morningstar stands strong behind QBE despite the insurer reporting a 37% fall in net profit - this makes it the least impressive result...

Investment house Morningstar stands strong behind QBE despite the insurer reporting a 37% fall in net profit - this makes it the least impressive result amongst the major insurers with Suncorp reporting a 19% increase in profits while IAG announced a significant boost to earnings and dividends. Peter Warnes, Head of Equities Research at Morningstar says that, despite disappointments there were positives in QBE's interim result. Warnes highlights the benefits to be received from adjustments to QBE's discount rate as the company enters a positive yield environment. As well as that, with the USA crop harvest looking healthy, earnings from the North American crop insurance business have the potential to be much better this year. With QBE's earnings coming off a low base and with a share price which has underperformed its peers by around 20% over the past year, there could still be further upside for QBE. (VIEW LINK)