Oct. 29--Aflac Inc. profits more than tripled in the third quarter of 2009, primarily because it did not incur as much in investment losses as it saw a year ago.

Net earnings came in at $363 million, or 77 cents per diluted share, compared to $100 million, or 21 cents per share, the same time last year.

When it comes to measuring the company's financial performance, Aflac prefers to look at operating earnings, which exclude realized investment gains and losses and other non-recurring items.

Operating earnings rose 19.6 percent in the third quarter, from $493 million, or $1.02 per diluted share a year ago, to $589 million or $1.25 per share. This beat the expectations of 19 analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial by 5 cents.

Ken Janke, Aflac senior vice president for investment relations, said the jump in net earnings was "really just because the net earnings were so depressed last year by the realized investment losses."

"The comparison was fairly easy to last year," he added. In the third quarter of 2008, Aflac was hit with realized investment losses of about $389 million, or 81 cents per diluted share. This included $198 million in losses after Aflac decided to sell its holdings in Lehman Brothers and Washington Mutual, as well as to write down its investment in Ford Motor Co. The remaining $191 million loss came from impaired investments in a number of perpetual debentures, or "hybrid securities."

In this year's third quarter, net earnings included after-tax realized investment losses of $226 million, or 48 cents per diluted share. About $212 million of that came from hybrid securities. Aflac also took a $27 million investment loss from the impairment of collateralized debt and mortgage obligations, but saw $13 million in investment gains from sales and redemptions of investment securities.

Total revenues in the third quarter rose 22.6 percent to $4.52 billion, compared to $3.69 billion in 2008's third quarter, thanks to a stronger yen/dollar exchange rate. The average rate in 2009's third quarter was 93.56 -- about 15 percent stronger than the average rate the same time last year.

Aflac also announced Wednesday a fourth-quarter cash dividend of 28 cents per share, payable Dec. 1 to shareholders of record at the close of business Nov. 18.

On Wednesday, company shares fell $1.73 cents to $40.58 in trading on the New York Stock Exchange.