News Summary

• Aflac (NYSE: AFL ) reported second-quarter numbers that point in opposite directions.
• Net earnings climbed to $825 million, helped along by investment losses that shrank to $153 million from $421 million a year ago.
• Adjusted earnings, though, fell 7.7% to $883 million.
• Both numbers are real, but they answer different questions.
• Which measure you trust changes the story, so here is what sits underneath.
• The evidence leaves a real tension, because reported profit and adjusted profit are telling different stories about the same insurer.