Manulife Financial (MFC.TO)

This company was heading down while Canadian banks were doing well this summer. Because of its involvement in the equity markets, it is still in an upward trend and still very positive. Thinks it is a good place to be.

A much different company from when it had problems during the financial crisis. Improving core earnings, less strain from new business because of changes in their product lines, less market sensitive products and expanding wealth management operations. Well-capitalized balance sheet.

They benefit from the strength in the stock market. They have a great Asian component. Have been in Hong Kong for years. Reasonable dividend and the balance sheet gets cleaned up as the market improves. They can grow.

Has not been enthused about this one as he is in this sector for dividend) growth. However, this one has more upside because they have been pounded down so badly. Have good operations in the Far East but this is a different regime and far riskier. Yield is relatively low also.

Sell it here and buy a bank. Generally he sees better growth out of the banks.

Screens better than Power Financial. He expects higher interest rates and better markets going forward so this is a buy. This one is coming off a pretty low base. The momentum is there since they turned the corner. 2.9% dividend.

A reasonable opportunity for investing if you’re timeframe is a year or longer. This is on the presumption that interest rates will be a lot higher than they are.

At this point we have extracted the most we can get from the lifecos. The turn earlier this year at $15 was where he thought the high was. Other things can provide more upside over the next couple of years.

(A Top Pick Sept 11/12. Up 51.04%.) The insurance companies will benefit as the longer-term interest rates continue to rise. They are in their early days. Still sees plenty of upside here.

Favourite Canadian lifeco and your 12 month outlook? The one that really stands out is Manulife (MFC-T). He likes that life insurance can re-price their products in the given market here. We are seeing premiums increasing. If this continues going the way it is, he could see $20 on this stock. 3% dividend yield.

The bond market won’t be favourable. Stock markets will be favourable but they hedged away some of the risk. The business is doing well as they get into China and India. Don’t rush in if you think there is a market correction coming.

Thinks this one works higher. Chart shows a nasty downtrend from 2009 and the trend was reversed in the latter part of 2012. We are currently going through a bit of congestion now. It will work its way higher, so there is more to come.

Feels this name was under owned for a long time. Thinks it continues to go higher over time. Earnings have been improving. Story has been improving. Last quarter they had lower new business strain, meaning lower costs. Have been controlling their expenses and are more efficient. Ultimately, it is a call on where interest rates are going and where equity markets are going. He feels that over time, both of them will go higher.

Rising rates are much more favorable to insurance than to the banks. A lot of that is already built into the price of insurance companies. There is probably a little more to go.

Has been recovering after the catastrophe of 2008-2009. Had a great run, but it hit his initial target of about $18 and has been setting back ever since. Has a downside target of about $15 where it would hit some good solid support and he would be interested in coming back to the stock at that time.