Allstate Corporation - ALL

Is your stock portfolio in good hands? Are you ready to live off of your retirement investments? Tell me, are you in good hands? Well, adding a stock like Allstate Corporation, stock ticker ALL, to your IRA would be a smart move.

Allstate is a holding company for Allstate Insurance Company. Allstate's business is conducted principally through Allstate Insurance Company, Allstate Life Insurance Company and their affiliates. They are engaged, principally in the United States, in the property liability insurance, life insurance, retirement and investment product business. Allstate's primary business is the sale of private passenger auto and homeowners insurance.

In short, Allstate Corporation is currently selling at a 50% discount from what it sold for in 2007.  Allstate is a solid company that is trading at a huge discount to its book value. ALL should continue to do better as it embraces more of a direct-to-consumer sales model and begins to shift away from using agents. Add in a solid dividend and you've got a buy! Allstate pays a 22 cent quarterly dividend, which is a 2.57% dividend yield. They are a dividend machine!

Allstate also sells several other personal property and casualty insurance products, select commercial property and casualty coverages, life insurance, annuities, voluntary accident and health insurance and funding agreements. It conducts its business primarily in the United States. Allstate has four business segments: 1) Allstate Protection 2) Allstate Financial 3) Discontinued Lines and Coverages 4) Corporate and Other. In October 2011, ALL acquired Esurance and Answer Financial from White Mountains Insurance Group (See video for more about Allstate's Esurance and Answer Financial acquisition).

Here are some helpful up to date Allstate Statistics which will help you decided whether ALL is right for your Roth IRA stock portfolio:

52 week 22.27 - 34.83
Vol / Avg. 6.51M/4.21M
Mkt cap $16.80B
P/E 16.35
Div/yield $0.22/2.57%
EPS 2.09
Shares 491.36M
Beta 1.49
Inst. own 76%

I believe Allstate will grow in profitability as property insurance benefits from the eventual real estate recovery and the middle class's recovery in jobs, investments, and purchasing power. Allstate is an experienced company, currently cleaning up the agent pool and insurance books. They have a lot of potential!

Feel free to visit Allstate's Investor Relations website, here, and register to listen to their Q1 2012 Earnings conference call, here. In conclusion, Allstate is a great company who cares about their customers. They pay a fantastic quarterly dividend which will continue to grow. ALL is way too cheap as of today. With such a great balance sheet I do not see why ALL is not selling for a much higher share price.

Interview with Thomas Wilson, CEO of Allstate

Answer Financial & Esurance Acquisition

Allstate Commercials