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

Manulife Financial (MFC.TO)

61.50

-0.03 (0.05%)

as of Sep 24, 2026, 8:00:00 pm Market Open.

1632 watching

BUY

Interesting, likes the name. Perhaps management doesn't pay out more to shareholders or buy back shares because they want to expand or keep cash on hand. Doing well. Will benefit long-term from growth in Asia. 7-8x forward earnings, with 7-9% earnings growth going forward. Revenues and earnings will grow. He owns SLF and GWO instead. Yield of 4.5%.

BUY

Banks or lifecos? She likes both sectors, so it's not an either-or question. Banks will benefit from the reopening/recovery. She expects earnings upside and revisions probably later this year. Bank stocks have had a nice rally this year, but long term they remain attractive given their yields. The lifecos' valuations remain good, and wealth management offers key growth. She likes MFC's presence in Asia for its strong long-term growth. She owns TD, Royal and BNS.

DON'T BUY

He does not own life insurance companies as they are the most commoditized form of insurance. The banks have done better than the insurance companies (11% vs. 5%) unless you are looking for a short term trade, he would favour a bank. (Analysts’ price target is $29.00)

BUY

MFC vs. SLF Equally good. Prefers MFC for the great Asian franchise, which has a lot of opportunity. Has also built a great asset management business that has continued to do well. MFC has a great growth profile at a cheaper multiple. MFC gets the nod, but you can own both. They're great businesses that will continue to pay a good dividend for many years.

BUY

He continues to try to look at the big picture. It is cheaper than SLF-T with potentially more horsepower in terms of growth and it has a higher dividend yield. The opportunity in MFC-T comes from management. Changes they make do not come overnight. The recent drop is a buying opportunity.

DON'T BUY

The reason it went down after the blowout earnings is related to the financial crisis. During the crisis, MFC almost went out of business. They totally de-risked themselves coming out of the crisis. They never benefitted from good times. The best thing for insurance companies is for interest rates go up. Prefers Sunlife, a much better company.

TOP PICK

Expecting good numbers from all the lifecos. Extremely well capitalized. Asian operations doing extremely well. Should see dividend increases and capital appreciation. Inexpensive relative to peers. Yield is 4.26%. (Analysts’ price target is $28.10)

HOLD

Their performance was not that good recently but they have decent valuation, good growth and good positioning. Financials have lagged a little recently. He thinks it is incredibly cheap here. Stick to your guns.

DON'T BUY

Could easily be over $30, or not. Long-term performance has been ugly since the financial crisis. Lack of growth, hard to understand the valuation. Interest rates rising could be a tailwind. Hard to evaluate the business quality.

WEAK BUY

It has trouble breaking $28, but he remains positive on this long term and bought shares in the low-20s. Managers are doing a good job. MFC won't be exciting, but their over 4% dividend probably will grow. Happy to own it.

BUY

When companies break down, it takes 10 years to repair the damage. A lot of investors suffer exhaustion. But this creates an opportunity for the next expansionary cycle. The whole insurance sector is attractive. Knocking on the door of making a 12-year high. Great global footprint, Chinese business, wealth management, growing earnings, nice dividend. If it trades through $28, you're going to have a pretty good ongoing rally, and this is likely with the group's tailwinds.

BUY

A core holding of his. It pays a 4% yield with strong growth in Asia. New management in recent years has reduced legacy costs holding this back. He sees good growth for MFC and is trading at a modest 9x earning this year. In 2008, they were heavily exposed to equity markets, but a lot of this is now behind them. People are unforgiving of large financials cutting their dividend, but MFC's dividend has been catching up, which he's glad to see.

BUY

People were worried about low interest rates and asset write downs. These haven't happened. Diversified business model. Environment is very strong for them, especially in Asia. Expects dividend increases. Not an expensive price to book value.

BUY

MFC vs. SLF With increasing interest rates, either makes a lot of sense right now. He owns SLF. With MFC, you get about twice the exposure to the Asian market. SLF has more exposure to Canada. MFC has more beta, higher dividend, a bit cheaper. With the Asian recovery, MFC could perform a bit better. SLF gives you more stability. SLF yield is 3.5%. MFC yield is 4.5%

BUY

They are participating in the positive sentiment on reopening. There is still upside to this whole group. She thinks this one will continue to trade higher with the broader group.

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Manulife Financial (MFC.TO)