Genworth MI is up about 4% following their quarterly report.
Book value (including intangibles) is $34.76/share diluted, while excluding intangibles is about $34.57/share diluted (there is not a lot of baggage on the balance sheet other than deferred policy acquisition costs that gets expensed off when revenue is recognized).
Taking the tangible book value and giving a standard 20% premium over book yields about $41.48/share, which is slightly below what it is trading at present ($41.70 as I write this). There is nothing exceptional in the portfolio that would warrant an extraordinary value beyond a percentage multiple over book (unlike companies like Berkshire and Fairfax which require some careful consideration with their own portfolios).
From a perspective of price-to-book for typical insurance companies, MIC has reached its full valuation and any gains to be made from here are likely to result from minting cash through operations rather than any huge expansion of the price-to-book multiple. This statement could be incorrect as market psychology usually likes to take things to excess and also the market is still yield-hungry. MIC does deliver 3.74% at current price with a historically rising dividend which would appeal to fund managers.
Income-wise, they are still at around the P/E 10 level which also has some valuation appeal for those that invest on that basis.
I would not feel too badly about lightening up my holdings at current prices, which I might do depending on other available options.
It is unfortunate that I would only get interested once again in this company if there was a true housing crisis in Canada. Otherwise it is unlikely the market would offer a huge discount to book that was initially given back in 2012 – where the equity was trading at over a 1/3rd discount to book along with many other insurers. These inefficiencies have been mostly corrected by the marketplace and the companies that are left with discounts to book have genuine issues that result in such valuations.
Looking over my previous work on MIC, I have done a relatively good job of analyzing the firm and it has been an amazing gainer for me over the past couple years. I wish I had candidates on my list that have nearly the risk/reward ratio that this one did.