Manulife Financial (MFC.TO) Buy, Sell or Hold

Manulife Financial (MFC.TO)

61.75

+0.25 (0.41%)

as of Sep 25, 2026, 2:08:16 pm Market Open.

1632 watching

TOP PICK

Premier insurance company in the country but has gone through some hard times because of exposure to the equity markets. Cut their dividends and raised a lot of equity so a lot of shareholders threw in the towel but the name of the game for financial companies is going to be capital.

SELL

This would be his 3rd choice in Canadian lifecos. It ended up being a leveraged play on the US stock market. Still has 75% of their equity exposure unhedged. Has not been shareholder friendly. Have raised massive amounts of money twice to build up their balance sheet as well as cutting the dividend in half.

DON'T BUY

Very large, high-quality Canadian life insurance company. Ran into problems last year with their balance sheet and was forced to get significant financing. In the life insurance companies it has the most exposure to the overall equity market.

BUY

(Market Call Minute.) Dominant player in the insurance business. Good price level.

TOP PICK

Raise capital to assure their customers they would be around forever. Growth profile and valuation looks quite attractive. 2.6% dividend. Should grow 15%-20% over the next 2 years.

BUY

Banks are expensive at this point. He continues to buy for new accounts.

BUY

Disappointed investors on a number of fronts with their dividend cut and come into the market a few times for equities getting a lot of dilution. That is now behind them and they have a fortress balance sheet. Likes their geographic reach. Expect it will be more prudently managed going forward.

DON'T BUY

Because of his market outlook, would still not consider this as an entry point. Would prefer it down and they $14-$15 range. Some decent, but not great FMV. Any weakness in the market and this company will tend to go with it.

TOP PICK

Market was angry with them because of the new issue but he thinks of it as a transitional event where it changes the fundamentals. Well capitalized now and have money for acquisitions. Trading at only 10X earnings.

TOP PICK

Cut their dividend and raised about $5 billion in equity and the debt rating has been cut so not sure anything else can go wrong. Good leverage to equity market and rising interest rates now.

STRONG BUY

Have raised a lot of capital and are in a good situation. Anytime you can buy an insurance company at Book Value you should jump on it. Earnings for 2009 should come in at around $2.

COMMENT

Prefers Great West (GWO-T), a more conservative play. If we skate out of this thing and everything is fine and in January/February the market breaks to the upside, this would be the best one to move because it has the most leverage.

DON'T BUY

Earnings will be sluggish for the next couple of years because of equity raising recently. Dilution of earnings could keep price within this range.

DON'T BUY

Had owned what he thought was the best run, highest quality, best growing life insurance company in North America with opportunities in the far east. Ended up owning a leveraged play on the US stock market so he sold. Stock recovered and then they cut the dividend in half as well as doing 2 financings. Wouldn't go near this one. (See Top Picks.)

TOP PICK

Has been beat up lately. Not a lot of people on the street are in favour of it. Issued a lot of capital recently. They have a great cushion against adverse affects of equity markets if they should fall again. It is a great company, dominant in its industry. Earning scan go back to 2 or 2-1/2 over next couple of years.

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Manulife Financial (MFC.TO)