L vs. MFC, GWO, SLF, PRU, CIA, ALS, STC, CNC, ROOT, and PIH
Should you be buying Loblaw Companies stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Loblaw Companies include Manulife Financial (MFC), Great-West Lifeco (GWO), Sun Life Financial (SLF), Perseus Mining (PRU), Champion Iron (CIA), Altius Minerals (ALS), Sangoma Technologies (STC), Canada Nickel (CNC), Roots (ROOT), and 8002 (PIH.TO) (PIH). These companies are all part of the "insurance" industry.
Loblaw Companies vs. Its Competitors
Loblaw Companies (TSE:L) and Manulife Financial (TSE:MFC) are both large-cap insurance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, profitability, dividends, institutional ownership, valuation, analyst recommendations, earnings and media sentiment.
8.9% of Loblaw Companies shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 32.9% of Manulife Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. 53.8% of Loblaw Companies shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.0% of Manulife Financial shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.
Manulife Financial has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Loblaw Companies. Manulife Financial is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Loblaw Companies, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Loblaw Companies presently has a consensus target price of C$199.25, suggesting a potential upside of 269.46%. Manulife Financial has a consensus target price of C$47.75, suggesting a potential upside of 11.64%. Given Loblaw Companies' stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Loblaw Companies is more favorable than Manulife Financial.
Manulife Financial has a net margin of 12.52% compared to Loblaw Companies' net margin of 3.71%. Loblaw Companies' return on equity of 19.90% beat Manulife Financial's return on equity.
In the previous week, Manulife Financial had 1 more articles in the media than Loblaw Companies. MarketBeat recorded 4 mentions for Manulife Financial and 3 mentions for Loblaw Companies. Manulife Financial's average media sentiment score of 0.40 beat Loblaw Companies' score of 0.11 indicating that Manulife Financial is being referred to more favorably in the news media.
Loblaw Companies pays an annual dividend of C$0.53 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.0%. Manulife Financial pays an annual dividend of C$1.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.9%. Loblaw Companies pays out 26.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Manulife Financial pays out 54.2% 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.
Loblaw Companies has a beta of 0.423253, indicating that its stock price is 58% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Manulife Financial has a beta of 0.982238, indicating that its stock price is 2% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Summary
Loblaw Companies and Manulife Financial tied by winning 9 of the 18 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 L 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:L) was last updated on 9/25/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff