MFC vs. GWO, POW, ELF, SFC, RY, TD, BN, BMO, BNS, and CM
Should you be buying Manulife Financial stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Manulife Financial include Great-West Lifeco (GWO), Power Co. of Canada (POW), E-L Financial (ELF), Sagicor Financial (SFC), Royal Bank of Canada (RY), Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD), Brookfield (BN), Bank of Montreal (BMO), Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS), and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CM). These companies are all part of the "financial services" sector.
Manulife Financial (TSE:MFC) and Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) are both large-cap financial services companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, earnings, media sentiment, valuation, institutional ownership, dividends, community ranking, analyst recommendations and profitability.
In the previous week, Manulife Financial had 3 more articles in the media than Great-West Lifeco. MarketBeat recorded 6 mentions for Manulife Financial and 3 mentions for Great-West Lifeco. Great-West Lifeco's average media sentiment score of 0.78 beat Manulife Financial's score of 0.58 indicating that Great-West Lifeco is being referred to more favorably in the news media.
Manulife Financial has a net margin of 18.29% compared to Great-West Lifeco's net margin of 10.05%. Great-West Lifeco's return on equity of 11.74% beat Manulife Financial's return on equity.
Manulife Financial pays an annual dividend of C$1.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.5%. Great-West Lifeco pays an annual dividend of C$2.22 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.6%. Manulife Financial pays out 70.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Great-West Lifeco pays out 63.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Great-West Lifeco is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.
59.3% of Manulife Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 11.5% of Great-West Lifeco shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.0% of Manulife Financial shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 70.6% of Great-West Lifeco shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
Manulife Financial received 297 more outperform votes than Great-West Lifeco when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 66.71% of users gave Manulife Financial an outperform vote while only 38.89% of users gave Great-West Lifeco an outperform vote.
Manulife Financial has a beta of 1.1, meaning that its share price is 10% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Great-West Lifeco has a beta of 0.87, meaning that its share price is 13% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Manulife Financial presently has a consensus price target of C$37.30, suggesting a potential upside of 4.80%. Great-West Lifeco has a consensus price target of C$44.00, suggesting a potential upside of 10.22%. Given Great-West Lifeco's higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Great-West Lifeco is more favorable than Manulife Financial.
Manulife Financial has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Great-West Lifeco. Great-West Lifeco is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Manulife Financial, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Summary
Manulife Financial beats Great-West Lifeco on 11 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.
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This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding MFC and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
This chart shows the average media sentiment of TSE and its competitors over the past 90 days as caculated by MarketBeat. The averaged score is equivalent to the following: Very Negative Sentiment <= -1.5, Negative Sentiment > -1.5 and <= -0.5, Neutral Sentiment > -0.5 and < 0.5, Positive Sentiment >= 0.5 and < 1.5, and Very Positive Sentiment >= 1.5.
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