Diversified competitive position in specialty insurance niches. Successful strategy execution. Improved earnings. Strong capitalization. Conservative financial leverage. Strong fixed-charge coverage. Renewal rights acquisition strategy that may increase underwriting leverage and pressure the expense ratio in the short term. Consolidated underwriting results that are not yet as strong as those of some competitors. Execution risk associated with Argonaut's recent merger with PXRE Group Ltd. The counterparty credit rating on Argonaut Group Inc. reflects the company's diversified business mix, successful execution of its strategy, improving earnings, strong capitalization, conservative financial leverage, and strong fixed-charge coverage. Partially offsetting these positive factors have been the drag on the expense ratio and increased underwriting leverage arising from the company's renewal rights acquisition strategy. Another offset
