Prudential (PUK) Competitors

Manulife Financial (NYSE:MFC) and Prudential (NYSE:PUK) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, institutional ownership, media sentiment, community ranking, valuation, earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations and risk.

Do institutionals & insiders hold more shares of MFC or PUK?

52.6% of Manulife Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 1.9% of Prudential shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.0% of Manulife Financial shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of Prudential shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Do analysts rate MFC or PUK?

Manulife Financial presently has a consensus target price of $45.50, indicating a potential upside of 44.17%. Given Manulife Financial's higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Manulife Financial is more favorable than Prudential.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Manulife Financial	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
Prudential	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Is MFC or PUK more profitable?

Manulife Financial has a net margin of 10.08% compared to Prudential's net margin of 0.00%. Manulife Financial's return on equity of 15.98% beat Prudential's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Manulife Financial	10.08%	15.98%	0.76%
Prudential	N/A	N/A	N/A

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer MFC or PUK?

Manulife Financial received 7 more outperform votes than Prudential when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 68.05% of users gave Manulife Financial an outperform vote while only 61.55% of users gave Prudential an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Manulife Financial	Outperform Votes 460 68.05%	Underperform Votes 216 31.95%
Prudential	Outperform Votes 453 61.55%	Underperform Votes 283 38.45%

Which has preferable earnings & valuation, MFC or PUK?

Manulife Financial has higher revenue and earnings than Prudential. Prudential is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Manulife Financial, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Manulife Financial	$45.58B	1.19	$4.05B	$2.07	15.25
Prudential	$8.14B	3.51	$1.70B	$2.32	9.41

Is MFC or PUK a better dividend stock?

Manulife Financial pays an annual dividend of $1.21 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.8%. Prudential pays an annual dividend of $0.65 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.0%. Manulife Financial pays out 58.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Prudential pays out 28.0% 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. Manulife Financial has raised its dividend for 12 consecutive years. Manulife Financial is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Does the media favor MFC or PUK?

In the previous week, Prudential had 1 more articles in the media than Manulife Financial. MarketBeat recorded 12 mentions for Prudential and 11 mentions for Manulife Financial. Manulife Financial's average media sentiment score of 1.50 beat Prudential's score of 1.33 indicating that Manulife Financial is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Manulife Financial	8 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive
Prudential	10 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has more volatility and risk, MFC or PUK?

Manulife Financial has a beta of 0.89, indicating that its stock price is 11% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Prudential has a beta of 1, indicating that its stock price has a similar volatility profile to the S&P 500.

Summary

Manulife Financial beats Prudential on 14 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.