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Sun Life Financial (SLF) Competitors

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C$83.33 -1.15 (-1.36%)
As of 08/1/2025 04:24 PM Eastern

SLF vs. MFC, L, GWO, PRU, CIA, ALS, STC, CNC, 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), Sangoma Technologies (STC), Canada Nickel (CNC), 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 superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, earnings, dividends, risk, media sentiment, profitability, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Manulife Financial presently has a consensus price target of C$47.88, suggesting a potential upside of 13.93%. Sun Life Financial has a consensus price target of C$88.38, suggesting a potential upside of 6.05%. Given Manulife Financial's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Manulife Financial is more favorable than Sun Life Financial.

Company Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score
Manulife Financial
0 Sell rating(s)
2 Hold rating(s)
5 Buy rating(s)
1 Strong Buy rating(s)
2.88
Sun Life Financial
1 Sell rating(s)
2 Hold rating(s)
4 Buy rating(s)
1 Strong Buy rating(s)
2.63

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.

Company Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets
Manulife Financial12.52% 11.75% 0.55%
Sun Life Financial 7.58%15.69%0.81%

60.2% of Manulife Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 56.5% of Sun Life Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.0% of Manulife Financial shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.0% of Sun Life Financial shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Manulife Financial pays an annual dividend of C$1.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.8%. Sun Life Financial pays an annual dividend of C$3.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.9%. Manulife Financial pays out 49.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Sun Life Financial pays out 48.9% 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. Sun Life Financial is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

In the previous week, Sun Life Financial had 4 more articles in the media than Manulife Financial. MarketBeat recorded 10 mentions for Sun Life Financial and 6 mentions for Manulife Financial. Manulife Financial's average media sentiment score of 1.09 beat Sun Life Financial's score of 0.86 indicating that Manulife Financial is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company Very Positive Positive Neutral Negative Very Negative Overall Sentiment
Manulife Financial
2 Very Positive mention(s)
1 Positive mention(s)
0 Neutral mention(s)
0 Negative mention(s)
0 Very Negative mention(s)
Positive
Sun Life Financial
2 Very Positive mention(s)
0 Positive mention(s)
4 Neutral mention(s)
0 Negative mention(s)
0 Very Negative mention(s)
Positive

Manulife Financial has higher earnings, but lower revenue 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.

CompanyGross RevenuePrice/Sales RatioNet IncomeEarnings Per SharePrice/Earnings Ratio
Manulife FinancialC$45.06B1.64C$5.64BC$3.2113.08
Sun Life FinancialC$49.53B0.96C$3.76BC$6.6312.57

Manulife Financial has a beta of 1.06, suggesting that its share price is 6% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Sun Life Financial has a beta of 0.94, suggesting that its share price is 6% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Manulife Financial beats Sun Life Financial on 10 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.
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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.
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SLF vs. The Competition

MetricSun Life FinancialInsurance IndustryFinancial SectorTSE Exchange
Market CapC$47.60BC$183.44BC$6.27BC$6.20B
Dividend Yield4.20%5.17%4.19%6.72%
P/E Ratio12.5716.6214.1663.43
Price / Sales0.9613.451,831.431,250.99
Price / Cash0.441.8449.1483.29
Price / Book1.861.832.104.86
Net IncomeC$3.76BC$1.57BC$1.23BC$301.20M
7 Day Performance-1.93%-0.13%6.47%-2.19%
1 Month Performance-5.50%1.68%2.00%0.23%
1 Year Performance25.14%42.40%20.32%26.15%

Sun Life Financial Competitors List

CompanyMarketRankShare PriceAnalysts' Price Target1Y Price PerformanceMarket CapRevenueP/E RatioEmployee CountIndicator(s)
SLF
Sun Life Financial
2.1316 of 5 stars
C$83.33
-1.4%
C$88.38
+6.1%
+25.1%C$47.60BC$49.53B12.5729,200News Coverage
Analyst Revision
MFC
Manulife Financial
3.5523 of 5 stars
C$43.20
+0.7%
C$47.88
+10.8%
+22.5%C$75.77BC$45.06B13.4440,000Positive News
Analyst Revision
L
Loblaw Companies
1.2428 of 5 stars
C$221.43
-0.3%
C$244.50
+10.4%
+33.6%C$66.95BC$60.23B30.0612,000
GWO
Great-West Lifeco
1.5228 of 5 stars
C$52.03
-0.8%
C$55.56
+6.8%
+26.7%C$48.44BC$25.31B11.9033,500
PRU
Perseus Mining
0.5603 of 5 stars
C$3.05
-4.1%
C$2.70
-11.5%
+33.6%C$4.66BC$1.73B9.5139,900
CIA
Champion Iron
3.4438 of 5 stars
C$4.37
-2.5%
C$6.67
+52.6%
-29.5%C$2.26BC$1.51B17.48220Analyst Revision
ALS
Altius Minerals
1.0932 of 5 stars
C$29.24
+1.2%
C$31.25
+6.9%
+34.7%C$1.35BC$43.80M98.9719
STC
Sangoma Technologies
2.6049 of 5 stars
C$7.93
+1.0%
C$11.50
+45.0%
+96.2%C$190.27MC$174.58M-27.751,342Positive News
CNC
Canada Nickel
N/AC$0.82
-1.2%
N/A-23.8%C$148.31MN/A-16.7074,300
ROOT
Roots
1.1769 of 5 stars
C$3.22
flat
C$3.75
+16.5%
+52.4%C$130.24MC$261.62M45.00760
PIH
8002 (PIH.TO)
N/AN/AN/AN/AC$127.03MN/A0.009

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This page (TSE:SLF) was last updated on 8/4/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff
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