In October, the Northbrook, Ill.-based company announced it incurred $3 billion of catastrophic losses in the third quarter of 2005 compared to $1.1 billion in the year-ago period.

Since that time the company has engaged in a major public relations effort to gain support for state and federal backstop programs with mechanisms to establish loss reserves in advance of any catastrophic event.

Allstate CEO Edward Liddy took part in a National Catastrophe Insurance Summit last month sponsored by California Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi that proposed such a public-private partnership with state and federal participation.

Mr. Meredith also noted the company is continuing efforts to reduce its exposure to both hurricane and earthquake losses in a variety of ways, including raising deductibles, non-renewing some business, raising rates and transferring some policies to other companies.

"On the claims side, Katrina claims are tracking as expected, which gives us some comfort that the company will not see material changes in its loss estimate," Mr. Meredith wrote.

With plenty of cash and excess capital, Mr. Meredith said that Allstate should be able to cover hurricane losses from current funding. "We do not expect a significant drop off in share repurchase activity, despite the paid loss activity from the hurricanes," he wrote.

Fitch Ratings analyst Doug Pawloski said Allstate's move to beef up its reinsurance cover through a nationwide program makes sense. "They were working with a state-by-state approach, and with Katrina they found some holes in that strategy," he said.