MetLife, Inc. · MET · FY2026 Q1 · Calendar Q2 2026

MetLife Q1 FY2026: Adjusted Earnings Up 18% as Asia and Investment Management Drive Growth

MetLife's Q1 FY2026 results demonstrate accelerating momentum in its New Frontier strategy, with adjusted earnings rising 18% to $1.6 billion and EPS of $2.42 beating consensus by 6.6%. The beat was broad-based, anchored by exceptional Asia growth (Japan +26%, Korea +44% sales) and a 68% earnings jump at MetLife Investment Management following the PineBridge acquisition. ROE reached 17%, at the top of the 15-17% target range. The market initially sold off with a -1.37% abnormal move on the report, but shares subsequently drifted +7.2%, suggesting investors warmed to the results over time. Management maintained guidance and signaled continued disciplined capital allocation, returning $1.1 billion to shareholders in the quarter through buybacks and a 4.4% dividend increase.

Reported After market closeNYSEFinancial Services $62.73B market cap
100quality score

Company context

Snapshot as of publication

MetLife, Inc. operates as a leading global financial services entity, delivering an extensive array of services encompassing insurance, annuities, employee benefits, and asset management. The company manages its operations through five primary divisions: the U.S., Asia, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), and MetLife Holdings. Its broad insurance offerings include life, dental, group short-term and long-term disability, individual disability, pet, accidental death and dismemberment, vision, and accident and health coverages, as well as prepaid legal plans. MetLife also supports employers with administrative services-only (ASO) arrangements. Furthermore, it provides sophisticated financial instruments such as general and separate account contracts, synthetic guaranteed interest contracts, and private floating rate funding agreements.…

Earnings scorecard

Reported versus consensus
Reported EPS $2.42 Consensus $2
EPS surprise +6.6% Reported versus consensus
Reported revenue $19.68B Consensus $19.49B
Revenue surprise +1.0% Reported versus consensus

Earnings History

Estimate Beat Miss Match
MET EPS earnings history estimate and actual scatter chart 8 reported fiscal quarters and 4 future estimate-only quarters. Q4 '23 estimate $1.88 Q4 '23 actual $1.93, beat Q1 '24 estimate $1.84 Q1 '24 actual $1.83, match Q2 '24 estimate $2.10 Q2 '24 actual $2.28, beat Q3 '24 estimate $2.17 Q3 '24 actual $1.93, miss Q2 '25 estimate $2.15 Q2 '25 actual $2.02, miss Q3 '25 estimate $2.31 Q3 '25 actual $2.34, beat Q4 '25 estimate $2.34 Q4 '25 actual $2.58, beat Q1 '26 estimate $2.27 Q1 '26 actual $2.42, beat Q2 '26 estimate $2.30 Q3 '26 estimate $2.53 Q4 '26 estimate $2.59 Q1 '27 estimate $2.49

Analyst Consensus ?

ConsensusBuy33 ratings
Bullish2575.8%
Neutral824.2%
Bearish00.0%

Analyst 52W Price Targets

$97.27Current
$68Low
$92.04Average
$145High

Latest persisted target per named analyst; persisted current price from FN2's market snapshot as of Jul 29, 2026. Not an FN2 forecast.

Firm-level rating actions

FMP grade actions identify the grading firm, not a named analyst.

FirmRatingPrior ratingActionDate
TD Cowen Buy BuyMaintainJul 22, 2026
JP Morgan Overweight OverweightMaintainJul 21, 2026
Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Outperform OutperformMaintainJul 13, 2026
Evercore ISI Group In Line In LineMaintainJul 13, 2026
Jefferies Buy BuyMaintainJul 10, 2026
Wells Fargo Overweight OverweightMaintainJul 9, 2026
Mizuho Outperform OutperformMaintainJul 9, 2026
UBS Buy BuyMaintainJul 8, 2026
Show 25 more rating actions

Named analyst price targets

Upside is calculated against the persisted current price $97.27. FMP does not supply a rating on these named-analyst rows.

FirmAnalyst52W targetPrice when postedUpsideDate
Atlantic EquitiesAnalyst unavailable$103$92.44 +5.9%Jul 15, 2026
JefferiesSuneet Kamath$103$91.15 +5.9%Jul 10, 2026
UBSMichael Ward$105$90.27 +7.9%Jul 8, 2026
BarclaysAlex Scott$94$90.46 -3.4%Jul 7, 2026
Morgan StanleyAnalyst unavailable$103$90.93 +5.9%Jul 6, 2026
Piper SandlerAnalyst unavailable$90$88.03 -7.5%Jun 24, 2026
Piper SandlerAnalyst unavailable$86$84.06 -11.6%May 26, 2026
Morgan StanleyBob Huang$93$83.5 -4.4%May 21, 2026
Wells FargoAnalyst unavailable$95$77.98 -2.3%May 12, 2026
Mizuho SecuritiesYaron Kinar$95$78.82 -2.3%May 8, 2026
See 48 more

Track every rating change on MET the moment it posts. Free to start.

Start free

Market reaction

event-close to next-session close
Stock move -1.7% Event window
SPY move -0.3% Same window
Abnormal move -1.4% Stock minus SPY
Volume 1.4× Versus trailing sessions
Subsequent drift +7.2% Up to 20 sessions
METSPY benchmark

Follow MET with an agent that reads every filing, transcript, and price print. Free to start.

Try FN2 free

Transcript intelligence

What changed

Adjusted EPS of $2.42 vs. $2.27 consensus (6.6% surprise). Revenue of $19.68B vs. $19.49B estimate (1.0% surprise). Adjusted earnings up 18% YoY to $1.6B. ROE at 17%, top of 15-17% target. Asia sales: Japan +26%, Korea +44%. MetLife Investment Management earnings up 68% post-PineBridge. $750M share repurchases and $370M dividends in quarter. 4.4% dividend increase. $3.9B cash buffer. $1B subordinated debt issuance oversubscribed 5x. Divestiture of Ukraine business completed.

Guidance delta

Management maintained all prior guidance. The New Frontier Year 2 targets were reiterated: double-digit adjusted EPS growth, ROE of 15-17%, and disciplined expense-ratio progression. No upward or downward revision was announced. Guidance sentiment was maintained with a confident management tone and a bullish score of 85.

Key takeaways

  • Adjusted EPS of $2.42 beat consensus by 6.6% as earnings rose 18% YoY to $1.6 billion.
  • Asia was the standout: Japan sales up 26% and Korea sales up 44%, driven by new product launches.
  • MetLife Investment Management earnings jumped 68% following the PineBridge acquisition integration.
  • ROE reached 17%, at the top of the 15-17% target range.
  • Shareholder returns totaled $1.1 billion, including $750M in buybacks and a 4.4% dividend increase.

Management priorities

  • Accelerate New Frontier strategy in Year 2 with focus on operational efficiency and cost discipline
  • Embed AI across operations, supported by a $3.2 billion investment program to modernize processes
  • Expand product offerings in Asia, leveraging recent corporate accident and health success
  • Grow non-U.S. asset management flows through PineBridge's international distribution network
  • Maintain disciplined capital allocation with potential additional share repurchases and dividend growth

Related earnings events

Financial Services

Sources

  1. Earnings call transcript and parsed analysis · 2026-05-11T10:29:34.698584+00:00
  2. FN2 earnings calendar · 2026-07-26T00:37:12.209961+00:00
  3. Polygon adjusted daily market bars · 2026-07-29T17:14:04.630381+00:00
  4. Financial Modeling Prep analyst price-target consensus and quote snapshot · 2026-07-29T17:14:04.627586+00:00

Methodology

Reported and consensus figures come from FN2's earnings event records. Market reaction and volume are calculated from daily adjusted bars around the event; abnormal move subtracts the SPY move over the same window.

Analyst target low, average, and high values are derived at request time from each named analyst's latest persisted FMP target. The current-price marker comes from FN2's persisted market snapshot. They are sell-side estimates, not an FN2 valuation or recommendation.

Transcript intelligence is a structured synthesis of the current and prior earnings-call analyses. Missing values stay missing and are never estimated.

By FN2 Research · Updated . For educational purposes only; not investment advice.