American Financial posts higher quarterly profit

(Reuters) - American Financial Group Inc (AFG.N) reported second-quarter operating profit that beat analyst estimates helped by improved underwriting in property and casualty insurance and raised its full-year profit forecast.

The property and casualty specialty insurer, raised its core earnings outlook for 2009 to between $3.80 and $4.10 per share, from its earlier view of $3.75 to $4.05 per share.

For the second quarter, net earnings attributable to shareholders rose to $127 million, or $1.09 a share, from year-ago quarter's $60 million, or 52 cents a share.

Excluding realized investment losses, core net operating earnings, a measure used by insurance analysts, were $117 million, or $1.01 a share, beating estimate of 92 cents a share.

Investment income rose 10 percent to $299 million during the quarter, the company said. Realized investment gains in the quarter stood at $15 million compared with a loss of $63 million last year.

Shares of the company rose 2 cents in after the bell trading. They closed at $24.66 Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange.

(Reporting by Archana Shankar in Bangalore)