Lemonade tanks as Texas freeze hits Q1 results

Daniel Schreiber and Shai Wininger  photo: Ben Kalmar
Daniel Schreiber and Shai Wininger photo: Ben Kalmar

The Israeli digital insurance company's loss widened due to the huge number of claims caused by the Texas storms in February.

Israeli digital insurance company Lemonade (NYSE: LMND) share price fell sharply on Wall Street yesterday after the company reported first quarter 2021 results in which revenue was lower and loss was higher after a large number of claims due to the February freeze and storms in Texas. Lemonade's share price fell 18.52% to $60.17, giving a market cap of $3.693 billion.

Lemonade, which was founded by CEO Daniel Schreiber and COO Wininger, has developed online insurance products based on AI and big data, which the company says more efficiently assesses risks, pays out claims more quickly and reduces fraud. The share price is still more than double the $29 at its IPO in July 2020 but 60% below its peak earlier this year.

In the first quarter of 2021 revenue was $23.5 million, down 10.3% from the corresponding quarter of 2020 because changes in agreement with reinsurance companies, but higher than analysts' forecasts. Loss in the first quarter of 2021 widened 34.2%, from the corresponding quarter of 2020, to $49 million. Loss per share in the first quarter of 2021 was $0.81, while the analysts had predicted a lower loss of $0.78.

Lemonade said that that Texas storms led to a year's worth of claims for property damage in just a few days.

Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on May 13, 2021

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2021

Daniel Schreiber and Shai Wininger  photo: Ben Kalmar
Daniel Schreiber and Shai Wininger photo: Ben Kalmar
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