Greg Newman Manulife Financial MFC-T PAST TOP PICK Apr 25, 2025

Pays a good yield and all the insurers are doing well.

Doesn't believe Asian exposure is affected by US-China issues. Would only be affected secondarily if economy started to slow and people had less money in general. 

Nice recent beat. Still has momentum in Asia. Wealth management earnings were up 8%, even after the $43M charge on California wildfires. At 9.7x PE for 2026, still cheaper than Canadian banks and than SLF and GWO. Reasonable 10% growth rate. Lowest payout ratio among peers. Another "when", not "if", story. Yield is 4.02%, with nice growth.

Look to this name for income, not for growth. Solid dividend yield, north of 5%. Some growth over time. Reasonable valuation, around 10x PE. Growing in Asia. His favourite in the space is GWO.

Has done well this past year. Decent income stock. In the financial services sector right now, her preference is the Canadian banks. But you can continue to hold this name. Its focus on services means she's not worried about impact of tariffs.

MFC is such a complex company, really hard to figure out. If he can't figure it out, he just stays away. If you compare the two right now, SLF is incrementally more profitable and more transparent. Nothing compelling about the price.

Very strong franchise in Asia. Life insurance benefits from aging demographics, as well as people in developing and emerging markets purchasing life insurance for the first time. Undemanding PE. Nice dividend. 

Stock's been flat and stuck at these levels for the last little while. There may have been a downgrade yesterday. Thinks it's undervalued. Great dividend yield, dividend should remain steady and increase. Steady growth company; sees ~8% going into the next few years. Price-to-book is 1.6x, fairly cheap relative to some peers.

Wait and see. Market's hesitant to push it to new heights. If you forget about the last few months, 200-day MA is still trending higher thought flattening a bit. Stock price is below that now, but it's done that before and moved up again. Getting paid to wait.

Higher interest rates are better for insurance companies than they are for banks. So some investors might be selling on recent lower rates. Raising dividend faster than some of peers. Solid company with a dividend, and there's nothing wrong with that.

Earnings quality still improving, though last quarter showed some negatives in the US. Acquiring Comvest, a private asset management platform, which should be nicely accretive. At 7.5%, not same EPS growth as a year ago. Trades at 9.8x versus peers, 45% payout ratio. Nice dividend, which will have some nice growth.

In general, insurance companies are a better buy than the banks right now.

Took profits not too long ago. Range-bound over last 12+ months. In the right spot, and aging demographics will help its asset management. Likes it longer term. Nice dividend yield of ~3.9%, expected to grow over time. He still owns SLF.