GWO vs. POW, MFC, NA, IFC, SLF, FFH, BAM, CM, IGM, and IAG
Should you be buying Great-West Lifeco stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Great-West Lifeco include Power Co. of Canada (POW), Manulife Financial (MFC), National Bank of Canada (NA), Intact Financial (IFC), Sun Life Financial (SLF), Fairfax Financial (FFH), Brookfield Asset Management (BAM), Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CM), IGM Financial (IGM), and iA Financial (IAG). These companies are all part of the "finance" sector.
Great-West Lifeco vs.
Power Co. of Canada (TSE:POW) and Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, community ranking, analyst recommendations, valuation, profitability, media sentiment, risk, dividends and earnings.
Power Co. of Canada has a beta of 1.06, suggesting that its share price is 6% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Great-West Lifeco has a beta of 0.81, suggesting that its share price is 19% less volatile than the S&P 500.
34.7% of Power Co. of Canada shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 10.7% of Great-West Lifeco shares are owned by institutional investors. 13.1% of Power Co. of Canada shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 70.6% of Great-West Lifeco shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.
Great-West Lifeco has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Power Co. of Canada. Great-West Lifeco is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Power Co. of Canada, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
In the previous week, Power Co. of Canada had 15 more articles in the media than Great-West Lifeco. MarketBeat recorded 17 mentions for Power Co. of Canada and 2 mentions for Great-West Lifeco. Power Co. of Canada's average media sentiment score of 0.31 beat Great-West Lifeco's score of 0.00 indicating that Power Co. of Canada is being referred to more favorably in the media.
Power Co. of Canada presently has a consensus target price of C$39.86, suggesting a potential upside of 15.19%. Great-West Lifeco has a consensus target price of C$36.50, suggesting a potential upside of 5.49%. Given Power Co. of Canada's higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Power Co. of Canada is more favorable than Great-West Lifeco.
Great-West Lifeco has a net margin of 7.49% compared to Power Co. of Canada's net margin of 3.97%. Great-West Lifeco's return on equity of 11.25% beat Power Co. of Canada's return on equity.
Power Co. of Canada pays an annual dividend of C$1.98 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.7%. Great-West Lifeco pays an annual dividend of C$2.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.0%. Power Co. of Canada pays out 67.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Great-West Lifeco pays out 60.3% 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.
Power Co. of Canada received 23 more outperform votes than Great-West Lifeco when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 55.07% of users gave Power Co. of Canada an outperform vote while only 39.97% of users gave Great-West Lifeco an outperform vote.
Summary
Power Co. of Canada and Great-West Lifeco tied by winning 9 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.
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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Great-West Lifeco Competitors List