Prudential profit misses mark on weaker individual life, annuities units

US life insurer Prudential Financial Inc fell short of analyst estimates for quarterly profit on Wednesday, hurt by weakness in its US individual life insurance and annuities businesses.

Prudential's US individual life insurance segment reported an adjusted operating loss of $135 million, compared to operating income of $43 million in the year-ago quarter.

Adjusted operating income at its annuity segment fell 9% to $462 million.

An annuity is a long-term insurance contract that allows consumers to generate a steady income during retirement.

PGIM, the company's asset management arm, posted a 4% rise in adjusted operating income to $264 million from a year earlier.

The international insurance business recorded a 8.3% rise in adjusted operating income to $849 million, partly due to growth in Brazil.

Prudential's adjusted operating income rose to $1.31 billion, or $3.14 per share, in the second quarter ended June 30, from $1.30 billion, or $3.01 per share, a year earlier.

But analysts on average had expected a profit of $3.23 per share, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.