Just checked Willis Towers Watson's performance since their Q4 earnings dropped about a month ago, and yeah, the stock is down roughly 10% while the broader market held up fine. Pretty interesting considering their earnings actually beat expectations on paper. They posted $8.12 adjusted EPS which came in 2.5% above consensus, and the bottom line was up 2% year over year. Willis also managed to expand operating margins in their Health, Wealth & Career and Risk & Broking segments, so the fundamentals looked decent.

Revenues came in at $2.9 billion, which was a 3% dip year over year on a reported basis, but they squeezed out a 2.5% beat on consensus. The thing that caught my eye was the cost side - total service costs dropped 10%, which helped offset some of the revenue headwinds. Operating income hit $1 billion with margins expanding 80 basis points to 36.9%. Willis also generated strong organic revenue growth of 6% when you strip out currency effects.

On the segment side, Risk & Broking actually performed well with revenues up 10% year over year, while Health, Wealth & Career saw some pressure with revenues down 11% reported but still managed organic growth. The Newfront acquisition is expected to dilute EPS by 10 cents in 2026, which might be weighing on sentiment. Looking at the outlook, Willis management is guiding for continued margin expansion and free cash flow improvement, plus they're committing to $1 billion in share buybacks.

Estimates have been trending downward since the report though, which probably explains the stock weakness despite the beat. Zacks has it at a Hold rating, so nothing particularly exciting expected near-term. Curious if this is just a temporary pullback or if there's something deeper investors are worried about here.