GWO vs. MFC, L, SLF, PRU, CIA, ALS, STC, CNC, PIH, and ROOT
Should you be buying Great-West Lifeco stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Great-West Lifeco include Manulife Financial (MFC), Loblaw Companies (L), Sun Life Financial (SLF), Perseus Mining (PRU), Champion Iron (CIA), Altius Minerals (ALS), Sangoma Technologies (STC), Canada Nickel (CNC), 8002 (PIH.TO) (PIH), and Roots (ROOT). These companies are all part of the "insurance" industry.
Great-West Lifeco vs. Its Competitors
Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) and Manulife Financial (TSE:MFC) are both large-cap financial services companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, community ranking, profitability, analyst recommendations, media sentiment, dividends, institutional ownership, valuation and risk.
Great-West Lifeco pays an annual dividend of C$2.22 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.4%. Manulife Financial pays an annual dividend of C$1.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.7%. Great-West Lifeco pays out 50.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Manulife Financial pays out 49.8% 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 has a net margin of 16.06% compared to Manulife Financial's net margin of 12.52%. Great-West Lifeco's return on equity of 14.81% beat Manulife Financial's return on equity.
Great-West Lifeco has a beta of 0.84, indicating that its stock price is 16% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Manulife Financial has a beta of 1.06, indicating that its stock price is 6% more volatile than the S&P 500.
11.0% of Great-West Lifeco shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 60.2% of Manulife Financial shares are held by institutional investors. 70.7% of Great-West Lifeco shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.0% of Manulife Financial shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.
Manulife Financial received 301 more outperform votes than Great-West Lifeco when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 65.71% of users gave Manulife Financial an outperform vote while only 38.15% of users gave Great-West Lifeco an outperform vote.
Manulife Financial has higher revenue and earnings 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.
Great-West Lifeco presently has a consensus price target of C$55.56, indicating a potential upside of 10.08%. Manulife Financial has a consensus price target of C$48.00, indicating a potential upside of 9.76%. Given Great-West Lifeco's higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Great-West Lifeco is more favorable than Manulife Financial.
In the previous week, Great-West Lifeco had 2 more articles in the media than Manulife Financial. MarketBeat recorded 3 mentions for Great-West Lifeco and 1 mentions for Manulife Financial. Manulife Financial's average media sentiment score of 0.53 beat Great-West Lifeco's score of 0.20 indicating that Manulife Financial is being referred to more favorably in the news media.
Summary
Manulife Financial beats Great-West Lifeco on 11 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.
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New MarketBeat Followers Over Time
This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding GWO and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
Skip ChartMedia Sentiment Over Time
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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This page (TSE:GWO) was last updated on 6/12/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff