Manulife FinancialMFC.TODON'T BUYApr 08, 2014Stock price when the opinion was issued
As of Jul 24, 2026. Market Open.
Both fairly highly ranked, and moving up, in the Canadian equity universe. The banks have been dominating the top of the rankings, and the insurers have been catching up. TD is slightly higher ranked, with a bit better performance.
When two stocks are looking good and under accumulation, and you can't decide, you can always split your position between the two of them.
A bit overbought. Chart looks healthy, with higher highs and higher lows. 200-day MA continues to move higher. Financials in Canada are, in general, getting a little overvalued. Be cautious, be selective.
Trading over 2x book value now. Not a lot of earnings growth, about 8-9% (still decent, but not explosive).
In the doldrums following the financial crisis. Recently, taken the lead. The opportunity in this name has, perhaps, been fully realized.
He needs either a macro or company-specific hiccup to happen before putting new $$ to work in the market. At that time, you may want to take profits on this and deploy elsewhere. Watch out for headline contagion risk from private credit issues.
All the financials have come off slightly, especially in the insurance space.
MFC has come down right to its 200-day MA, so you could argue it's got a bit more upside. High-quality name. Beta is double that of GWO, but no greater than the TSX itself. Scale is better than GWO. This one looks more attractive. He wouldn't switch, total return won't be that different. Yield is 4.3%.
GWO has a lower beta, so it hasn't moved as much as MFC. Good quality assets, very steady earnings growth. Yield is 4.3%.
He might own this, not sure. Recently, he predicted it would pull back to $45 which it appears to be doing. If you're a long-term holder for the 4.1% dividend, you're not in danger unless this falls below $45. If it bounces at $45, he would add more. But if you sold some shares now, that's a good idea.
In a recovery phase and thinks it is fully priced. One of his concerns is that they have a lot of eggs in the Chinese basket. Things over there are looking at little bit on the dicey side and you are never quite sure what the government is going to do. Has a pretty reasonable dividend. Prefers Power Financial (PWF-T) which has Great West Life (GWO-T) or you could choose one of the other like companies that has a good yield. Not a bad part of anybody’s portfolio to have an insurance company.