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

PAST TOP PICK

(A Top Pick May 24/19, Up 6%) The momentum is strong with good volume. It's been on an uptrend since late-2018. He would not sell it here.

BUY

It's done a nice job coming out of the Recession when their shares fell to $4, but the whole financial sector faces limited growth. However, their Asian division is a growth driver, and they are freeing up capital from their U.S. operations. The share price will grind higher and pays a decent dividend over 4%. His price target is the upper-$20's in 18 months or so.

BUY

They are growing the global operations nicely. He added to it recently. He also owns SLF-T. They are both great companies but he is adding more to MFC-T right now.

COMMENT

MFC-T is the country's biggest life insurance company. He owns Sunlife instead as he feels it is better managed.

WAIT

He almost bought during the recession -- it would have been a great buy then. He would wait on the common stock today. He likes the preferred shares as he likes the income they provide -- with a yield of 5% or more.

HOLD

Why is it flat despite impressive metrics? Yes, he's frustrated too. Why is it flat? MFC remains a show-me story. MFC needs to right the ship in annuities. True, Asia is their growth engine, but MFC needs a higher yield curve; rates are flat or lowering. So, this hurts all lifecos as well as banks. That said, MFC pays a good dividend and it's cheap, so he continues to hold it. Over time, investors will get rewarded, but until then, you will be rewarded by that dividend. MFC is pushing its investment service. Also, they will bring their asset management expertise in India in a new joint venture and this will let them pick up more assets to manage and develop into a new growth engine in the next 20 years.

WAIT

Do you see it reaching $30 in 12 months? A good question. This company does well with interest rates low. See if can break the neckline in the mid-$20s to see if it can get to $30.

BUY

Pros and cons. Yes, they won the trial, but there remains a litigation overhang (they should win their appeal). They just had a good quarter, but it was driven by Asia--is this sustainable? He expects 9% EPS growth and 10% annual dividend growth. Trades around 7x. It's outstanding value, but all insurance companies are hurt by falling interest rates. MFC has done a great job diversifying away from that, though.

BUY

He got concerned with the lawsuit, sold and bought SLF instead, but there's nothing wrong with MFC. He has shifted away from insurance to REITs, because the latter will benefit when interest rates are cut. You will do fine with MFC in the long term. Pay a 4.3% dividend, so you're paid to wait. This should drift a little higher. The valuation is reasonable, about 1x book.

COMMENT

She likes this holding in their portfolio and it trades at 1 times book. A trade deal between China and the US will be positive for the market as a whole. She is not sure it will make more than a market like improvement as their business is not focused on goods going in or out of China.

PAST TOP PICK

(A Top Pick May 25/18, Down 3%) Excellent quarter. Asia very good. Japan great. At book value and less than 10 times earnings.

TOP PICK

Above its long-term support line of $22. History of breaking the 200 day moving average, but always bounces back. Take advantage of the short-term weakness. Yield is 4.3%.

COMMENT

Upside potential with exposure to Asian market? Not expensive trades a 9-10X earnings, 4.1% dividend yield. Asian franchise has been fantastic and growing but hasn't offset their terrible U.S. franchise which has been depressing their return on equity. Has grown the asset under management business globally but has had some net outflows on the asset management side. Great chance to grow the Asian franchise, has a great brand name in Asia. Not expensive, nice dividend.

HOLD

Preferreds are a hold or sell? The preferreds have been terrible performers as the resets are lower because interest rates have been lower. He doesn't like resets but they are doing OK now. Manulife got good results.

BUY

vs. the Canadian banks It's not an either-or question. You can buy both. The new CEO has done a very good job to put aside the legacy businesses that are a drag. They have high-growth insurance business in Asia. MFC has lagged SLF the past few years in terms of stock price, but MFC's earnings should outpace SLF's. Also, MFC is closer to book value than SLF. It pays a good dividend. The banks are attractively priced too.

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Manulife Financial (MFC.TO)