SLF vs. MFC, L, GWO, PRU, CIA, ALS, CNC, STC, ROOT, and PIH
Should you be buying Sun Life Financial stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Sun Life Financial include Manulife Financial (MFC), Loblaw Companies (L), Great-West Lifeco (GWO), Perseus Mining (PRU), Champion Iron (CIA), Altius Minerals (ALS), Canada Nickel (CNC), Sangoma Technologies (STC), Roots (ROOT), and 8002 (PIH.TO) (PIH). These companies are all part of the "insurance" industry.
Sun Life Financial vs. Its Competitors
Manulife Financial (TSE:MFC) and Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) are both large-cap financial services companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, valuation, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, media sentiment, profitability, risk and earnings.
Manulife Financial has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Sun Life Financial. Manulife Financial is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Sun Life Financial, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Manulife Financial pays an annual dividend of C$1.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.8%. Sun Life Financial pays an annual dividend of C$3.37 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.9%. Manulife Financial pays out 54.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Sun Life Financial pays out 59.8% 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.
Manulife Financial has a net margin of 12.52% compared to Sun Life Financial's net margin of 7.58%. Sun Life Financial's return on equity of 15.69% beat Manulife Financial's return on equity.
Manulife Financial has a beta of 0.927708, suggesting that its stock price is 7% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Sun Life Financial has a beta of 0.835837, suggesting that its stock price is 16% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Manulife Financial currently has a consensus price target of C$49.44, indicating a potential upside of 10.91%. Sun Life Financial has a consensus price target of C$89.33, indicating a potential upside of 3.83%. Given Manulife Financial's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe Manulife Financial is more favorable than Sun Life Financial.
In the previous week, Sun Life Financial had 1 more articles in the media than Manulife Financial. MarketBeat recorded 17 mentions for Sun Life Financial and 16 mentions for Manulife Financial. Sun Life Financial's average media sentiment score of 0.71 beat Manulife Financial's score of 0.66 indicating that Sun Life Financial is being referred to more favorably in the news media.
32.9% of Manulife Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 32.3% of Sun Life Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.0% of Manulife Financial shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.0% of Sun Life Financial shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.
Summary
Sun Life Financial beats Manulife Financial on 9 of the 17 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 SLF and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
Media 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.
Sun Life Financial Competitors List
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This page (TSE:SLF) was last updated on 10/22/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff
