Greg Newman Manulife Financial MFC-T HOLD Feb 27, 2025

He held this a long time, patiently. Shares finally broke above $28 last year after a long repair period. There remains upside as it raises its dividend and has diversified sales in North America and Asia.

A lifeco, but also offers investment products. Solid, dependable. 

Likes it. Globally diversified. Slightly better dividend than SLF right now, though he likes both names. Also slightly cheaper than SLF, so that's why MFC is in his portfolio.

Great performance in 2024 with good dividend yield. Does not own shares. Good growth prospects ahead. Would recommend buying on weakness. 

Good growth in Asia. Asset management becoming a more important part of the business for all lifecos. Probably trading at higher end of historical levels. More room to go. Solid holding as long as it continues to execute. Yield is relatively attractive, increases over time.

A year it ago, it traded at a dirt cheap 6-7x PE. Many thought it was left for dead with bad insurance contracts. In Dec. 2023, they sold a lot of those contracts at a decent price. That's when he entered this. But he recently sold this to buy TD (which has more upside).

Really likes. Attractive valuation. Down ~11% from highs last November. Pretty nice dividend of 4.3%. Holding above the 200-day MA, which is moving upwards. Insurance space gives you decent growth with protectiveness of the dividend.

(Note the short timeframe.)  Caught up in sentiment against the financial sector. In the group, insurance companies have actually held up fairly well (haven't gone down as much as everything else). 

Nice Q4 beat. Provides some shelter from tariffs. Still trades at slight discount of 9x, growing ~12%. Nice dividend. Competitor SLF is the one that's had 2 negative surprises in a year. 

Still a buy, but be aware that investors are flocking to this area, so it could eventually drop. Great compounder from here for the next 5 years.