First Take 2Q26 Earnings: Continues To Navigate Through The Early Stages Of A Soft Market

Research evidence excerpt

First Take 2Q26 Earnings: Continues To Navigate Through The Early Stages Of A Soft Market

Update

July 20, 2026 09:20 PM GMT

Morgan Stanley & Co. LLCMW.R. Berkley Corp. | North America Bob Jian Huang

Equity Analyst

First Take 2Q26 Earnings: Bob.Huang@morganstanley.comDaniel Lee, ACAS +1 212 761-6136

Research Associate

Daniel.Lee4@morganstanley.com +1 212 761-0219

Continues To Navigate Through Siddhant Shah

Sid.Shah@morganstanley.com +1 212 761-2603

The Early Stages Of A Soft

W.R. Berkley Corp. (WRB.N, WRB US)

Insurance - Property & Casualty | United States ofMarket America

Stock Rating Equal-weight

Industry View Attractive

AlphaSignals Earnings Reaction Price target $75.00

Shr price, close (Jul 17, 2026) $71.61

Unchanged Modest upside Largely unchanged Mkt cap, curr (mm) $26,860

Impact to our thesis Financial results versus consensus Direction of next 12-month 52-Week Range $77.20-62.53

consensus EPS

Source: Company data, Morgan Stanley Research

Strong underwriting. In a soft market environment, WR Berkley's disciplined

underwriting practices supported solid results. The company's performance this

quarter is directionally in-line with our expectations, with growth continuing to face

challenges due to softening property-related pricing, but overall underwriting saw

strength given the limited catastrophe losses. While growth is an industry-wide

concern, Insurance segment growth is holding up steady, and the premium decline in

Reinsurance & Monoline is largely in-line with our expectations. Given the current

pricing environment, we expect the commercial SMID market to hold up better, and

consequently Insurance segment growth should remain somewhat steady.

Reinsurance segment is likely to face further pressures assuming we have another

mild catastrophe season in 2026.