MetLife, Inc.
Orin's own judgment of how firmly the evidence points one way — not the chance the price goes up.
MetLife's operational momentum is improving — Q2 2026 revenue grew 9.9% YoY to $18.88B, adjusted EPS beat estimates by 5.7% (actual $2.43 vs. estimated $2.30), and the stock trades above both its 50-day ($96.61) and 200-day ($84.23) moving averages with a positive MACD histogram of 0.36.
However, MET's 18.73x trailing P/E represents a 73.6% premium to the peer median of 10.79x, FY2025 GAAP net income declined 23.7% to $3.38B with operating margin compressing to 6.1% from 8.0%, and smart money has deteriorated from +0.05 in Q4 2024 to -0.00 as of Q2 2026. Strong FCF generation ($18.1B in FY2025), a favorable high-rate environment for life insurers, and a consistent earnings surprise streak support the upside, but the valuation premium and uneven GAAP profitability keep risk/reward balanced.
What could go wrong
- Valuation premium. MET trades at 18.73x P/E versus a peer median of 10.79x — a 73.6% premium — and 10.96x EV/EBITDA versus 8.56x peer median, leaving little room for execution missteps.
- GAAP earnings deterioration. FY2025 net income fell 23.7% to $3.38B and operating margin compressed to 6.1% from 8.0% in FY2024, despite 10.2% revenue growth, signaling cost or reserve pressure.
- Smart money outflow. Smart money score declined from +0.05 as of Q4 2024 to -0.00 as of Q2 2026, with institutional positioning turning slightly net negative.
- No meaningful insider buying. Over 24 months, insider transactions show net dispositions of 47,312 shares (-$3.83M); the only recent acquisitions were nominal 544-share board grants at $94.35 on 1 Oct.
What would change my mind
Where this comes from: Q2 2026 results · earnings vs estimates, 5 Aug · peer comparison · FY25 fundamentals. Orin's read on MET; not advice.
How has the share price moved?
Up 26.8% over twelve months, from $78.87 on 27 Oct 2025 to $99.98 at the Tue 27 Oct 2026 close. Its highest close in that time was $103.57 on 22 Oct 2026; the last close is 3.5% below it.
- Green line: the closing price each trading day.
- Grey line: the average closing price over the last 50 trading days.
- Dashed amber line: the same over the last 200 trading days — a slower, smoother line.
- Bars along the bottom: shares traded each day — green when it closed higher than the day before, rose when lower (the most, 8.9M, on 27 Feb 2026).
- Flags: the company's filings, on the day they were made (a 10-Q is the quarterly report and a 10-K the annual report; an 8-K reports a major event).
On file
All MET filingsLargest holders · 13F Q2 2026
Money flow| Filer | Position | Of fund |
|---|---|---|
| BlackRock | $4.4B | 0.1% |
| Vanguard Capital Management | $3.0B | 0.1% |
| Vanguard Portfolio Management | $2.5B | 0.1% |
| State Street | $2.1B | 0.1% |
| T. Rowe Price Associates | $1.8B | 0.2% |
| Geode Capital Management | $1.1B | 0.1% |
| Morgan Stanley | $1.1B | 0.1% |
| Invesco | $586.3M | 0.0% |
| Norges Bank | $577.0M | 0.1% |
| Goldman Sachs Group | $560.7M | 0.0% |
100 of the 815 filers we track · quarter ended Q2 2026 · positions, not flows
Insiders, last 24 months: 166 Form 4 filings; open-market trades net −$3.8M. Of the 50 on hand, 0 were open-market purchases and 1 a sale — the rest are grants, option exercises and tax withholding.
Ask Orin about MET
Orin answers questions about MET from its filings, transcripts and numbers — with the source behind every claim. Your own desk starts with 3 free days, card required.
Start 3 free days →How is it priced, against its own past and its sector?
Priced at 12.9× its last 12 months of profit (Thu 5 Nov close) — higher than in 2 of its last 5 fiscal years (middle 13.7×); the typical Financial Services company on the NYSE is at 17.6×.
| Measure | Now | Its usual | Sector |
|---|---|---|---|
| P/E | 12.9×below usual | 13.7× | 17.6× |
| P/S | 0.77×near usual | 0.81× | — |
| EV/EBITDA | 8.4×above usual | 7.5× | — |
| P/B | 2.8×above usual | 1.8× | — |
- "Its usual" is the middle of its own last 5 fiscal years.
P/E: the share price divided by one year of profit per share — roughly how many years of today's profit the price pays for. A company that loses money has no P/E.
P/S: the company's total market value divided by one year of revenue. Used when there is no profit to measure.
EV/EBITDA: the price of the whole company (its shares plus its debt, minus its cash) divided by one year of operating profit before interest, tax and write-downs.
P/B: the share price divided by the book value per share — what the company owns minus what it owes, as its accounts record it. When book value is tiny, P/B swings wildly and says little.
What do the analysts who cover it publish?
The analysts' average 12-month price target is $108 (from $103 to $111) — 8% above the Tue 27 Oct close price. That is their published opinion, not Orin's.
$108
$103 – $111 · +8% against the last close
- 11 buy or overweight
- 1 hold
- 0 underweight or sell
Price target: the share price an analyst publishes for about 12 months ahead. It is the opinion of the firm that wrote it; the average is across the firms that cover the company.
Overweight / underweight: analysts' rating words: overweight means the firm expects the stock to do better than the others it covers, underweight worse. Their words, not Orin's.
How is it priced next to the companies it is compared to?
Priced at 12.9× its last 12 months of profit; the middle P/E of the 3 companies it is compared to that made a profit is 10.3×.
| Company | Market value | P/E | EV/EBITDA | Gross margin | Net margin | ROE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| METMetLife, Inc. | $63B | 12.9× | 8.4× | n/a | 6.2% | 19% |
| AFLAflac Incorporated | $63B | 18.5× | 13.4× | n/a | 21.3% | 12% |
| GLGlobe Life Inc. | $12B | 10.3× | 24.7× | n/a | 18.9% | 20% |
| PRUPrudential Financial, Inc. | $40B | 10.3× | 8.6× | n/a | 5.9% | 12% |
- MET, AFL, GL, PRU: gross margin is not used (n/a) for a bank, an insurer or a property trust — what it sells is money or space, not goods.
- The list of companies is the data vendor's choice, so it can include a company a person would not have picked.
Market value: the share price times the number of shares — what the whole company is priced at.
P/E: the share price divided by one year of profit per share — roughly how many years of today's profit the price pays for. A company that loses money has no P/E.
EV/EBITDA: the price of the whole company (its shares plus its debt, minus its cash) divided by one year of operating profit before interest, tax and write-downs.
Gross margin: the share of each $1 of sales left after the direct cost of making what was sold.
Net margin: the share of each $1 of sales kept as profit after every cost. Below zero, the company lost money.
ROE: return on equity: one year of profit as a share of the shareholders' money in the business (its book value).
Is it priced high or low compared with its own past?
Priced at 12.9× its last 12 months of profit (Thu 5 Nov close). It has no full fiscal year on file since its history starts, so there is nothing of its own to compare with.
- Now12.9×
P/E: the share price divided by one year of profit per share — roughly how many years of today's profit the price pays for. A company that loses money has no P/E.
Fiscal year (FY): the company's own 12-month accounting year, which need not match the calendar year.
How has its sector been priced?
Financial Services companies on the NYSE were priced at a typical 17.6× their yearly profit (Tue 27 Oct close).
- Now17.6×
- Each year is the middle of that calendar year's daily sector P/E; "Now" is the Tue 27 Oct close figure, the same one in the table above.
Sector P/E: the middle P/E of the companies in the same sector on the same stock exchange, as the data vendor works it out each day.
What does a cash-flow model say a share is worth?
A cash-flow model is not built for a bank or an insurer — its cash moves with deposits, loans and claims — so none is shown.
Discounted cash flow: a model's estimate of what the company is worth today, from the cash it is forecast to make in future years. Small changes in the forecast move it a lot, and it says little about a company that loses money.