04:59 AM EDT, 05/08/2026 (MT Newswires) -- RBC Capital Markets on Thursday revised its earnings forecasts for AXA (CS.PA) after the French insurer released its first-quarter trading update.

For the three months ended March 31, AXA achieved a 6% increase in gross written premiums and other revenues on a comparable basis to 37.95 billion euros, driven by its property and casualty portfolio and sustained momentum in life and health net flows. Management anticipates pricing will continue to be "conducive"in P&C to facilitate volume growth, while demand across the L&H segment is expected to remain robust.

Within this context, RBC marginally raised its EPS forecasts for full-year 2026 through 2028 by 0.3%. For full-year 2026, analysts now project an EPS growth of 7.5%, consistent with the top-end of AXA's 6% to 8% target range.

RBC said key uncertainties for the outlook include the positive effect of cheaper outward reinsurance and higher reinvestment yields, counterbalanced by Iran war-driven inflationary headwinds and potential for sustained margin compression within the L&H business mix.

"AXA has purposefully shifted toward a higher proportion of technical insurance and capital-light earnings, supporting better earnings quality and growth. This fundamental improvement is evidenced by an [return on equity] that has re-rated toward peer levels. Yet AXA's P/E discount versus peers has widened to 25%, creating a compelling re-rating opportunity, in our view, as execution proof points accumulate. AXA trades at an attractive FY27E P/E of 9.3x vs our SOTP implied P/E of 10.5x, with PT of EUR48, which supports our Outperform rating,"the note said.