Unum Group (NYSE:UNM) Organic Growth to be Modest in 2011

Coming away from the investor-day presentation of Unum Group (NYSE:UNM), Barclays (NYSE:BCS) said they believe the message is organic growth will be slow in 2011 for them, and maintained their "Underweight" rating on the company.

Barclays said, "It was no coincidence, in our opinion, that Unum seemed to spend almost as much time in its investor-day presentation Wednesday talking about capital - its creation, its use, and its management - as it did about its businesses. We think Unum was trying to send investors a message. That message: That in 2011, as was the case in many of Unum's business throughout 2010, there will be very modest organic growth. This modest growth, Unum seemed to be saying, will need to be complemented with an aggressive capital-management -program - share repurchase and increased dividends -- in order to produce EPS growth in the mid-to-high single digits. It is in our opinion a clear, eminently achievable strategy...we also find it hard to develop a list of reasons of how Unum could surprise us favorably."

Barclays also lowered their earnings per share estimate for full year 2010 from $2.70 to $2.68 and for full year 2011 from $2.95 to $2.94.

Unum closed Friday at $22.17, falling $0.04, or 0.18 percent. Barclays raised their price target to $22 on the company.