SLF vs. MFC, GWO, L, 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), Great-West Lifeco (GWO), Loblaw Companies (L), 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 companies based on the strength of their dividends, risk, analyst recommendations, media sentiment, earnings, valuation, profitability and institutional ownership.
Manulife Financial has a beta of 1.06, meaning that its share price is 6% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Sun Life Financial has a beta of 0.94, meaning that its share price is 6% less volatile than the S&P 500.
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 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 4.0%. 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.
Manulife Financial presently has a consensus price target of C$47.75, suggesting a potential upside of 14.70%. Sun Life Financial has a consensus price target of C$86.67, suggesting a potential upside of 6.96%. Given Manulife Financial's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Manulife Financial is more favorable than Sun Life Financial.
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 insiders. Comparatively, 0.0% of Sun Life Financial shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
In the previous week, Sun Life Financial had 2 more articles in the media than Manulife Financial. MarketBeat recorded 3 mentions for Sun Life Financial and 1 mentions for Manulife Financial. Manulife Financial's average media sentiment score of 0.40 beat Sun Life Financial's score of 0.34 indicating that Manulife Financial is being referred to more favorably in the media.
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.
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.
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 8/26/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff
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