Stock price when the opinion was issued
Revenues from asset management, insurance, annuities, health benefits. Very diversified. Around for decades. Likes the safety and growth over time. Dividend growth is about 8%. Payout ratio still in 50-70% range. High quality. Not necessarily a home run, but a single: core holding for the long term, dividend payments, some price appreciation. Yield is 4.6%.
Because it's diversified, interest rate moves benefit different segments at different times.
All the insurance names, both in Canada and the US, continue to work. If interest rates do, in fact, go higher, that will only be beneficial for lifecos and other insurers. The chart looks fantastic. Good run, so there is some weakening in the intermediate term.
If a long-term holding, best thing you can do is sit on your hands and do nothing except participate in the DRIP program. Especially if he's right on the broader call of rates being 8-10% in the secular bear market of 2030-40, should be a big tailwind for insurers.
GWO is now trading at 9.7x times' Forward P/E. In Q4 – 2022, EPS of $0.96 beat estimates of $0.88. ROE is good at 13.6%.
Total asset under management remained largely flat at $1.03B. Based on consensus estimates, EPS is expected to grow by 6% in 2023.
The financial position is strong with long-term debt (excluding lease) of $10.5B against total Equity of $32B.
The company also increased dividends by 6% and gave out medium-term guidance to grow EPS by 9% on average while maintaining an ROE of 14-15% on average.
Overall, we think this is a good quarter, the company continues to execute well with their previous guidance.
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