SLF vs. MFC, L, GWO, PRU, CIA, ALS, STC, CNC, PIH, and ROOT
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), Sangoma Technologies (STC), Canada Nickel (CNC), 8002 (PIH.TO) (PIH), and Roots (ROOT). These companies are all part of the "insurance" industry.
Sun Life Financial vs.
Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) and Manulife Financial (TSE:MFC) are both large-cap financial services companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, valuation, earnings, profitability, media sentiment, institutional ownership, risk, community ranking and dividends.
Sun Life Financial has a beta of 0.94, meaning that its share price is 6% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Manulife Financial has a beta of 1.06, meaning that its share price is 6% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Sun Life Financial pays an annual dividend of C$3.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.7%. Manulife Financial pays an annual dividend of C$1.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.7%. Sun Life Financial pays out 48.9% 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.
Manulife Financial has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Sun Life Financial. Sun Life Financial is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Manulife Financial, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Sun Life Financial received 83 more outperform votes than Manulife Financial when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 65.71% of users gave Manulife Financial an outperform vote while only 61.83% of users gave Sun Life Financial an outperform vote.
In the previous week, Manulife Financial had 11 more articles in the media than Sun Life Financial. MarketBeat recorded 16 mentions for Manulife Financial and 5 mentions for Sun Life Financial. Sun Life Financial's average media sentiment score of 0.59 beat Manulife Financial's score of -0.38 indicating that Sun Life Financial is being referred to more favorably in the media.
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.
56.5% of Sun Life Financial shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 60.2% of Manulife Financial shares are held by institutional investors. 0.0% of Sun Life Financial shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.0% of Manulife Financial shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
Sun Life Financial presently has a consensus price target of C$86.89, suggesting a potential downside of 0.73%. Manulife Financial has a consensus price target of C$48.00, suggesting a potential upside of 12.46%. Given Manulife Financial's higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Manulife Financial is more favorable than Sun Life Financial.
Summary
Manulife Financial beats Sun Life Financial on 10 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.
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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:SLF) was last updated on 5/22/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff