AIG Shares Rise After Profit Jumps, Recent Deals Take Hold (1)

American International Group Inc. reported first-quarter results that exceeded Wall Street expectations, driven in part by a jump in net premiums written and lower catastrophe losses.

Shares of AIG rose as much as 6.6% in New York on Friday.

The insurer’s operating earnings per share jumped 80% to $2.11 in the three months through March from a year ago, according to a statement Thursday. That beat the $1.87 average estimate of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

This helped bring the insurer’s core operating return on equity to 12.2% for the period, up from 7.7% a year ago. Net premiums written at ...