Oct 29, 2026 earnings call — Growth and underwriting profitability
Gross written premium grew 60% to $498 million, and Hippo reported its fifth straight quarter of underwriting profitability.
Revenue $0.2B (est $0.2B) · EPS $0.33 (est $0.08)
Key quotes
"We had strong growth across the business with gross written premiums of nearly $500 million, up 60% over last year."
"In Q3, our net combined ratio improved 1 percentage point to 98.4% compared to Q3 of last year."
"Last night, we announced our latest endeavor into the program market, a partnership with Greenlight Re, whereby we will have the opportunity to be a preferred program carrier for emerging MGAs as well as invest alongside Greenlight Re into these businesses."
Analyst Q&A 3
retention rates and builder activity
Q (Randy Binner · Texas Capital Bank): The analyst asked if the lower retention level will continue into 2027, especially in commercial and casualty and property. He also asked how submissions and binding are doing with the Westwood builder partnership given slower housing.
A: They expect the blended retention (net written over gross written) to fall a few percentage points in 2027, toward the low 30s. Management said they will not sacrifice underwriting quality, and they can still hit growth targets by using more partners and channels. On Westwood, they would not share submission numbers but said access to many more builders gives upside even if individual builders build fewer homes.
"We do expect it to come down to probably to the low 30s area, low 30s to 30." — Guy Zeltser (CFO)
service offerings and capital for growth
Q (Thomas Mcjoynt-Griffith · KBW): He asked whether Hippo is newly offering claims, support and tech services to monetize them or to help go-to-market. He also asked if Spinnaker has enough capital to support double-digit net written premium growth or needs more capital.
A: Management said the services are meant to improve oversight and underwriting quality for programs where Hippo retains risk, not to be a revenue center; they prefer to be the claims TPA when they take meaningful risk. They said they have enough capital to support the 2027 and 2028 targets, citing "more than $2.5 billion of gross written premium and more than $140 million of adjusted net income," and noted they have "more than $500 million of capital" which can be stretched to "$750 million to $800 million." They also said a small whole-account quota share (~5%) is available as an extra lever if needed.
"So just to reiterate something that we've said in the past, we have enough capital to support all the organic growth that we put out or to achieve the targets we put out for 2027 and 2028." — Guy Zeltser (CFO)
Greenlight Re deal and loss ratio outlook
Q (Sidney Schultz · Jefferies): He asked for more detail on the Greenlight Re partnership and whether it targets emerging MGAs with limited underwriting history and lower Hippo retentions. He also asked if the third quarter loss ratio is a reasonable baseline going forward or if homeowners growth will offset mix headwinds.
A: They said the Greenlight deal is meant to find and support early-stage partners and seed long-term growth; they start small and expand as those partners grow, citing past Spinnaker examples. On loss ratio, they said year-over-year ex-cat (ex reserve development) was higher by about 160 basis points and mix alone raised the ratio by about 3 points, but homeowners performed better. They expect a combined ratio in the mid-90s in 2028 and an expense ratio in the mid-30s, with ex-cat rising while catastrophe and expense ratios fall as the mix shifts.
"So just to give you an idea on the mix shift, when we look at it on a year-over-year basis, our ex-cat loss ratio ex reserve development was higher by about 160 basis points." — Guy Zeltser (CFO)