Form: 8-K

Current report

Documents

Exhibit 99.0

 

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For Immediate Release   Contact:   Bob DeFillippo
December 7, 2005       (973) 802-4149

 

PRUDENTIAL FINANCIAL ANNOUNCES 2006 EARNINGS GUIDANCE

 

NEWARK, N.J. – Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE:PRU) announced today 2006 earnings per share guidance at its Investor Day conference in New York City. Management stated its expectation that Prudential Financial would achieve Common Stock earnings per share in the range of $5.40 to $5.60 for 2006, based on after-tax adjusted operating income of the Financial Services Businesses. The 2006 expectation assumes appreciation in the S&P 500 Index of 8 percent for the year and a number of additional factors that are in the company’s Current Report on Form 8-K dated December 7, 2005 filed earlier today with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Management also reaffirmed its previous guidance that Prudential Financial expects that it will achieve Common Stock earnings per share in the range of $4.85 to $4.95 for the year 2005, based on after-tax adjusted operating income of the Financial Services Businesses.

 

Adjusted operating income, which is not measured in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), should not be viewed as a substitute for income determined in accordance with GAAP, and our definition of adjusted operating income, which can be found below under “Non-GAAP Financial Measure,” may differ from that used by other companies.

 

Prudential Financial companies, with approximately $522 billion in total assets under management as of September 30, 2005, serve individual and institutional customers worldwide and include The Prudential Insurance Company of America, one of the largest life insurance companies in the United States. These companies offer a variety of products and services, including life insurance, mutual funds, annuities, pension and retirement related services and administration, asset management, securities brokerage, banking and trust services, real estate brokerage franchises and relocation services. For more information, visit www.prudential.com.

 

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Non-GAAP Financial Measure

 

Adjusted operating income excludes “Realized investment gains (losses), net” (other than those associated with terminating hedges of foreign currency earnings and current period yield adjustments) and related charges and adjustments. A significant element of realized losses is impairments and losses from sales of credit-impaired securities, the timing of which depends largely on market credit cycles and can vary considerably across periods. The timing of other sales that would result in gains or losses is largely subject to our discretion and influenced by market opportunities. Similarly, adjusted operating income excludes investment gains and losses on trading account assets supporting insurance liabilities and changes in experience-rated contractholder liabilities due to asset value changes, because these recorded changes in asset and liability values will ultimately inure to contractholders. Trends in the underlying profitability of our businesses can be more clearly identified without the fluctuating effects of these transactions. Adjusted operating income also excludes the results of divested businesses, which are not relevant to our ongoing operations. Because we do not predict future realized investment gains/losses or recorded changes in asset and liability values that will ultimately inure to contractholders, we cannot provide a measure of our Common Stock earnings per share expectation based on income from continuing operations of the Financial Services Businesses, which is the GAAP measure most comparable to adjusted operating income. We believe that the presentation of adjusted operating income as we measure it for management purposes enhances the understanding of our results of operations by highlighting the results from ongoing operations and the underlying profitability factors of our businesses. For additional information about adjusted operating income, please refer to our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2005, on the Investor Relations Web site at www.investor.prudential.com.

 

Forward-Looking Statements

 

Certain of the statements included in this release constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the U. S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as

 

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“expects,” “believes,” “anticipates,” “includes,” “plans,” “assumes,” “estimates,” “projects,” “intends,” “should,” “will,” “shall,” or variations of such words are generally part of forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are made based on management’s current expectations and beliefs concerning future developments and their potential effects upon Prudential Financial, Inc. and its subsidiaries.

 

There can be no assurance that future developments affecting Prudential Financial, Inc. and its subsidiaries will be those anticipated by management. These forward-looking statements are not a guarantee of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties, and there are certain important factors that could cause actual results to differ, possibly materially, from expectations or estimates reflected in such forward-looking statements, including among others: (1) general economic, market and political conditions, including the performance of financial markets and interest rate fluctuations; (2) domestic or international military or terrorist activities or conflicts; (3) volatility in the securities markets; (4) fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates and foreign securities markets; (5) regulatory or legislative changes, including changes in tax law; (6) changes in statutory or U.S. GAAP accounting principles, practices or policies; (7) differences between actual experience regarding mortality, morbidity, persistency, surrender experience, interest rates, or market returns and the assumptions we use in pricing our products, establishing liabilities and reserves or for other purposes; (8) reestimates of our reserves for future policy benefits and claims; (9) changes in our assumptions related to deferred policy acquisition costs; (10) events resulting in catastrophic loss of life; (11) investment losses and defaults; (12) changes in our claims-paying or credit ratings; (13) competition in our product lines and for personnel; (14) economic, political, currency and other risks relating to our international operations; (15) Prudential Financial, Inc.’s primary reliance, as a holding company, on dividends or distributions from its subsidiaries to meet debt payment obligations and the applicable regulatory restrictions on the ability of the subsidiaries to pay such dividends or distributions; (16) risks due to the lack of legal separation between our Financial Services Businesses and our Closed Block Business; (17) adverse determinations in litigation or regulatory matters and our exposure to contingent liabilities; and (18) the effects of acquisitions, divestitures and restructurings, including possible difficulties in integrating and realizing the projected results of acquisitions. Prudential Financial, Inc. is under no obligation to update any particular forward-looking statement included in this document.

 

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The information referred to above, as well as the risks of our businesses described in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2004, and our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2005, should be considered by readers when reviewing forward-looking statements contained in this release. Additional historical information relating to our financial performance is located on our Web site at www.investor.prudential.com.

 

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