The three segments consist of personal, commercial and specialty lines.

Bear Stearns analyst David Small noted this was the ninth straight quarter the carrier surpassed consensus estimates. Better than expected core profitability, lower than anticipated Hurricane Katrina-related reinsurance reinstatement premiums and positive reserve development drove the results, he wrote.

Catastrophe losses of $21 million were offset by a $20 million reduction in reinsurance reinstatement premium costs related to Katrina.

Net written premiums for the first quarter of 2006 declined 4 percent to $2.9 billion, the company said.

Property-casualty investment income after taxes for the first quarter increased 11 percent to $279 million in 2006 from $252 million in the same period last year, Chubb reported.

Mr. Small expressed concern that Chubb will find it difficult to maintain its current profitability in the coming months, despite the fact that management was bullish for both the property and liability lines rate environment during a conference call yesterday.

“The current profitability of the casualty business leads us to believe that competition will increase in the near term,” Mr. Small wrote. “While we have been pleasantly surprised by Chubb's ability to find profitable underwriting opportunities, we are cautious.”

Mr. Small said his group believes other aggressive players will seek to compete for Chubb's “outsized profits.”