Slide Insurance delivered first-quarter results that crushed Wall Street estimates, with diluted EPS of $1.02 against a forecast of $0.67 – a 52.2% earnings surprise – as gross written premiums surged 49.1% and the carrier capitalized on a transformed Florida property insurance market.
Net income climbed 50.8% to $139.5 million, up from $92.5 million a year earlier. Total revenue rose 38.2% to $389.3 million, while net premiums earned grew 37.5% to $365.9 million. Policies in force totaled 508,928 as of March 31, 2026, up 46% year on year.
The combined ratio improved 340 basis points to 55.5%, while the accident year loss ratio narrowed to 28.4% from 34.2%, CFO Anastasios Omiridis disclosed on the earnings call.
Chairman and CEO Bruce Lucas told analysts the result was achieved with no prior-year reserve development – a "clean" print compared with the $27.5 million in favorable PYD logged in Q4 2025.
Slide's growth has been powered by assumptions from Florida's Citizens Property Insurance Corp., the state-backed insurer of last resort. Florida's Office of Insurance Regulation had previously authorized Slide to assume up to 100,000 Citizens policies across February, March and April 2026.
Citizens depopulated 585,432 policies and removed $235.6 billion in exposure in 2025, entering 2026 with 67% less exposure than at peak, Artemis reported. The carrier's policy count fell to roughly 385,000 by year-end, down about 73% from its October 2023 peak.
The structural backdrop has been reshaped by Florida's 2022 SB 2-A and 2023 HB 837 reforms, which eliminated one-way attorney fee provisions and curbed assignment-of-benefits abuse. The Florida governor's office has reported that average requested rate hikes dropped from 21% in 2023 to 0.2% in 2025, with 17 new insurance companies entering the state since the reforms.
Lucas told analysts that risk-adjusted rate decreases in Florida reinsurance have been "substantial," with Slide's first-event reinsurance tower now approximately $3.5 billion – about $1 billion higher than 2025.
Slide repurchased 7,724,240 shares at a weighted average price of $17.75 in Q1, completing a $120 million repurchase program and initiating a new $125 million program, the company disclosed in regulatory filings. Cumulative buybacks since its June 2025 IPO total $230.9 million.
Lucas said Slide's California launch is "imminent," representing a $50 million to $100 million top-line opportunity in 2026. New York, New Jersey and Rhode Island launches – first flagged on the Q4 2025 call – remain in the pipeline, with New York and New Jersey described as "very accretive" given capacity shortfalls.
For full-year 2026, Slide reiterated guidance of $1.85 billion to $1.95 billion in gross written premiums and net income of $455 million to $470 million.
A potential headwind: Citizens has filed for average rate cuts of 8.8% for homeowners multi-peril policies effective June 1, which could compress future takeout opportunities under Florida's 20% premium-comparison threshold. Lucas has acknowledged the 2026 Citizens opportunity is "less robust" than prior years.
