Hello,

Welcome to our flagship newsletter, MarketBeat Daily Ratings.

We'll deliver the latest "Buy" and "Sell" ratings from Wall Street's top-rated analysts directly to your inbox each morning.

But first, we need you to do two quick things:

1. Hit reply, and send a simple "Yes." Just one word. This tells Google (and other emails providers) that you actually want to get our newsletter.

2. After that, this link to confirm your subscription. That will tell us that you received our welcome email and that we should start sending your daily report. 

Confirm your subscription here.

After you have completed these two steps, we would like to gift you a free copy of one of our most popular investing reports: 7 Stocks to Buy and Hold Forever. You can download the report with this link.

Thank you again for subscribing. We look forward to being an important part of your investing journey

Matthew Paulson
Founder and CEO, MarketBeat.

P.S. If you didn’t intend to subscribe, no problem—you can unsubscribe with this link.

(ARReply-161)

Jackson’s Record Quarter Powers the Bull Case

Author: Peter Frank. Article Posted: 9/16/2026.

When U.K.-based Prudential plc (NYSE: PUK) spun off its U.S. annuity business as Jackson Financial (NYSE: JXN) in September 2021, investors might have viewed it as a complicated, hand-me-down life insurer. For its first two years, the stock barely moved.

Three years later, that has all changed. A record quarter and a significant leadership transition together make this an important moment to assess whether the company’s rally has more room to run.

Here’s Why Trump Won’t End The Iran War (Ad)

Trump has called an Iran deal close 38 times since the war began, yet the fighting keeps flaring back up.

One day it's a ceasefire, the next it's bombs again. The back and forth may be masking a bigger story most investors are missing.

See the real reason this conflict may never fully end.

Uncover the real reason Trump may never end this war

With a nearly 30% increase in its stock price this year, investors need to decide whether chasing the stock now means arriving too late to the party.

Record Earnings Drive Momentum

Jackson reported adjusted operating earnings of $513 million, or $7.30 per diluted share, for the second quarter. The result was a company record and comfortably ahead of the $5.72 analysts had modeled.

Adjusted operating earnings per share (EPS) grew 55% year over year, powered by strong spread income and a shrinking share count resulting from years of buybacks.

GAAP net income attributable to common shareholders, which can swing with derivative and hedging accounting, came in at $644 million, or $9.16 per diluted share, versus $168 million, or $2.34 per share, a year earlier.

However, the GAAP figure is not the number investors watch most closely. The adjusted operating figure, supported by sales momentum, is more closely followed.

Retail annuity sales came in at $5.9 billion for the quarter, up 34% from a year earlier, while sales of registered index-linked annuities (RILA) reached a record $2.3 billion, up 69%.

Capital Returns Strengthen the Case

That shift matters because it supports capital returns, which are at the heart of the investment case. Jackson returned $290 million to common shareholders in the second quarter alone, split between $227 million in buybacks and $63 million in dividends. That total was up 34% from a year earlier. The company has now returned nearly $3.3 billion to shareholders since becoming independent in 2021.

Management reaffirmed its full-year 2026 target of $900 million to $1.1 billion in capital returns, building on the $862 million returned in 2025, which itself was up 47% per share from 2024.

The board also raised the quarterly common dividend 12.5% to 90 cents per share, putting the yield at around 2.6%.

Analysts See Limited Upside

Analyst sentiment is more mixed than the stock’s chart might suggest. The consensus rating among seven analysts is a Moderate Buy, with one Strong Buy, two Buys and four Holds. The average 12-month target price is $133.80, about 4% below the current share price.

The highest target is $149 per share, while the lowest is $105. Two analysts have boosted their target prices since earnings were released, while another analyst upgraded the stock.

Leadership Change Adds Risk

There are reasons for caution here beyond profit-taking concerns.

Jackson recently announced that longtime chief executive Laura Prieskorn will retire after nearly 40 years with the company. The company will hand the reins to current chief financial officer Don Cummings at the beginning of October. Leadership transitions at complex insurers always carry execution risk, even when, as in this case, they are described as an orderly succession.

Jackson’s business also remains exposed to equity markets through its large legacy variable annuity book. The company has warned that a significant market decline could become a headwind.

In addition, Jackson operates in a crowded field of annuity writers, including Lincoln National (NYSE: LNC), Equitable Holdings (NYSE: EQH), Brighthouse Financial (NASDAQ: BHF), Corebridge Financial (NYSE: CRBG) and F&G Annuities & Life (NYSE: FG), all competing for the same retiring-Boomer demand for guaranteed income.

Jackson’s edge has been its No. 1 position in traditional variable annuities and its position near the top of the fast-growing RILA category. That advantage has been reinforced by a private-credit sourcing partnership with TPG (NASDAQ: TPG), which Jackson said is already improving new-money yields.

The Bull Case Meets a Richer Valuation

For patient investors, Jackson looks like a value stock. Its share count is shrinking, its dividend is growing, adjusted operating earnings are rising at a double-digit rate, and its business mix is becoming less market-sensitive.

In general, this is not a flashy growth stock but a steady compounder that has quietly outperformed, even as a leadership change and a richer valuation have drawn attention.

For those considering a position, the analyst consensus price target sitting below today’s share price could be a signal to wait for a pullback rather than chase the stock near its 52-week high. Waiting through a few more quarters after the leadership handoff and additional earnings releases, while monitoring net flows and capital ratios, could be the right call before committing new money.