Slide Insurance (NASDAQ:SLDE) closed out 2025 with fourth-quarter results that management said “materially outpaced” prior guidance, driven by stronger voluntary sales, higher retention, favorable loss development, and continued participation in Citizens Property Insurance depopulation. On the company’s fourth-quarter 2025 earnings call, Chairman and CEO Bruce Lucas and CFO Andy Omiridis also outlined expectations for 2026 growth, including expansion into new states and a continued focus on capital returns through share repurchases.
Fourth-quarter results topped guidance
Lucas said Slide’s fourth-quarter performance exceeded the company’s earlier outlook, citing net income of $170 million versus prior guidance of $115 million to $125 million. Gross premiums written (GPW) rose 57% year-over-year to $618 million, helped by assumption activity from Citizens as well as voluntary sales and retention.
- Gross premiums written: $618.5 million, up from $394.6 million a year earlier
- Total revenue: $347 million, up 46% from $238.5 million
- Net income: $170.4 million, up from $75.1 million
- Diluted EPS: $1.23
- Combined ratio: 38%, improved from 60.9%
- Loss ratio: 8.3%, improved from 26.3%
Losses were notably light in the quarter. Omiridis said net losses and loss adjustment expenses incurred were $27.1 million, with no losses from significant storms. By comparison, the year-ago quarter included $32.1 million of catastrophe losses tied to Hurricanes Debbie, Helene, and Milton.
Citizens takeouts and policy growth drove the top line
Slide ended the quarter with approximately 493,500 policies in force, up 44% from a year ago and up 40% from September 30. Omiridis said the company assumed approximately 152,000 policies from Citizens during the quarter. He cautioned that assumed policies have varying renewal dates and premiums, which can create “lumpiness” in how premiums earn into future quarters.
During the Q&A, Lucas characterized the forward opportunity in Citizens depopulation as ongoing but smaller than in prior years. He said Citizens is adding roughly 8,000 policies per month through voluntary underwriting, though not all will be viable for assumption. Lucas added that reinsurance cost is a major driver in determining whether Citizens policies meet Slide’s return thresholds, and he said a down-pricing reinsurance market could “open up a new tranche of policies” that look attractive. Still, he emphasized the opportunity set is likely “a smaller opportunity than what we have seen in prior years.”
Underwriting profitability and expense trends
Management attributed the improvement in the combined ratio to higher net premiums earned from growth in policies in force, lower catastrophe losses, and reserve releases tied to non-cat events. Omiridis said the company’s conservative approach to reserving contributed to favorable prior-year development, and later clarified in Q&A that favorable prior-year development was $27.5 million in the quarter, with no meaningful other weather-related catastrophe activity.
Expenses rose alongside growth and investment:
- Policy acquisition and other underwriting expenses: $42.3 million, up from $29.1 million, driven by more policies in force and “greater investments in technology.”
- General and administrative expenses: $51.4 million, up from $45.7 million, driven primarily by staffing growth to support expansion.
Balance sheet strength and capital return
Lucas described Slide as having “the strongest balance sheet in the coastal specialty sector,” and said the company is the only coastal specialty insurer to surpass $1 billion in book value, ending the year at just over $1.1 billion. He also cited $2.9 billion of assets, a 2.9% debt-to-capital ratio, and over $1.2 billion in cash and cash equivalents.
Omiridis reported that as of December 31, 2025, Slide had:
- Cash and cash equivalents: $1.2 billion
- Restricted cash: $481.8 million held for captive reinsurance cells
- Invested assets: $593.7 million
- Long-term debt: $33.7 million
The company also repurchased $20 million of equity in the quarter, buying about 1.2 million shares at a weighted average price of $16.38. Management said roughly $80 million remained under its $120 million repurchase authorization. Lucas said he expects to repurchase shares “opportunistically” in 2026, arguing the company has more than enough capital to fund growth while retiring stock he described as undervalued.
2026 outlook: growth, diversification, and reinsurance assumptions
Management guided to 2026 gross written premiums of $1.85 billion to $1.95 billion and after-tax net income of $455 million to $470 million. Omiridis said growth is expected to be driven primarily by organic expansion, including double-digit increases in policies in force and premium outside Florida, alongside selective Florida opportunities that meet return thresholds.
Lucas reiterated plans to expand beyond Florida and South Carolina. He said Slide remained on track, pending final regulatory approval, to begin writing “by peril tailored policies” in New York and New Jersey in the first half of 2026, Rhode Island in the second half of 2026, and to launch an excess and surplus (E&S) product in California in the next 30 to 60 days. In response to a question about the California impact, Lucas said it is part of the 2026 growth outlook, though “not significant,” while adding he believes the opportunity could exceed internal expectations.
Reinsurance remained a key topic on the call. Lucas said Slide had not yet received traditional market quotes for its reinsurance program, noting the submission went out during the week of the call and that the company expects more clarity in the coming months ahead of its 6/1 renewal. Lucas said guidance includes a reduction in reinsurance expense, but management does not yet know the magnitude. He also noted Slide placed a “large ILS bond” providing about $320 million of limit, and said the bond’s risk-adjusted pricing was down “over 20%” year-over-year.
Asked about competitive pricing dynamics, Lucas said Slide was not seeing “big swings” in pricing, and emphasized that reinsurance is the major variable in policy pricing because “70% of our premium dollar or more” goes toward a reinsurance component. He also argued that expanding into new geographies creates “tremendous reinsurance synergies” by improving diversification across the company’s reinsurance tower.
Management also addressed potential political and regulatory developments. Lucas referenced public comments about possible profitability caps in New York homeowners insurance, saying such caps could lead insurers to pull out and worsen market conditions, citing California’s admitted market as an example of stress. He said Slide is monitoring proposals as it plans to enter New York.
About Slide Insurance (NASDAQ:SLDE)
Launched in 2021, we are a technology enabled, fast-growing, coastal specialty insurer. We focus on profitable underwriting of single family and condominium policies in the property and casualty (“P&C”) industry in coastal states along the Atlantic seaboard through our insurance subsidiary, Slide Insurance Company (“SIC”). We utilize our differentiated technology and data-driven approach to focus on market opportunities that are underserved by other insurance companies. We acquire policies both from inorganic block acquisitions and subsequent renewals, as well as new business sales through a combination of independent agents and our direct-to-consumer(“DTC”) channel, through which we sell our insurance products directly to end consumers, without the use of retailers, brokers, agents or other intermediaries.
