Beyond 12% earnings per share compound annual growth rate, there is upside optionality from capital deployment and M&A.
"We feel good about how we're performing in this environment, both in capital deployment and portfolio management," Mr. Nuttall said on the analyst call.
"Any capital deployment would need to meet the same hurdles that we apply to any other investment," Senn said, as Zurich disappointed investors with its half-year results.
Despite metrics showing impressive overall company performance, the company's capital deployment strategy was not maximizing shareholder dividends and/or buybacks.
Investors fear that insurers that end up on the list may face added constraints on capital deployment and thus lower returns on equity, says Sean Dargan, a securities analyst at Macquarie, a bank.
As pressure intensifies to reduce prices, either by cutting the list price or offering a discount, managers may act hastily, without the same rigor they apply to investments elsewhere, such as capital deployment or product enhancements.
"We believe our first-quarter results demonstrate the strength of Apollo's global integrated platform and that 2012 is off to a terrific start in terms of capital formation, capital deployment, and cash distributions for our shareholders," Leon Black, Apollo's chairman and chief executive, said in a statement.
Botswana is far more accommodating, but it might also make sense to get out of diamonds: it is a business that is more about branding the rocks and less about the savvy capital deployment and logistical know-how that are the hallmarks of the mining business.
Also important is whether the mistake has implications on capital deployment in the future.
