Prudential Financial (PRU) Stock Forecast & Price Target

Prudential Financial is positioned for stronger fundamental performance because it is narrowing its focus toward global retirement, asset management, and select protection businesses, which should improve capital efficiency and support high-single-digit earnings growth and better free cash flow conversion. Its core franchises are showing healthy momentum, with Individual Life benefiting from record sales and durable demand, the group benefit ratio improving to 80.4%, and adjusted operating expense ratio improving about 100 basis points in 2025 with another 150 basis points expected over the next 3 years. Earnings resilience is further supported by a balanced mix of U.S., Japan, and PGIM, with PGIM managing about $1.47 trillion in assets at the end of fourth-quarter 2025 and Prismic transactions helping optimize the balance sheet and unlock value.

Prudential Financial is facing a pressured fundamental backdrop because the company’s architecture appears misaligned with the current environment, and the severance charge carried into 2Q26 reinforces the need for a broader restructuring. Pension risk transfers can bolster reported earnings, but their contribution has been inconsistent, as seen in 1Q26 versus 1Q25, while the Japan sales suspension may bring additional remediation costs and brand damage in a market with low tolerance for such issues. Management also expects the aggregate impact on full-year 2026 pretax adjusted operating income to be approximately $525 million to $575 million, underscoring near-term earnings risk across its US, international, and PGIM businesses.