Opinions David Burrows
Sun Life Financial IncSLF.TOCOMMENTApr 19, 2017
Stock price when the opinion was issued
As of Jun 05, 2026. Market Open.
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It used to be all about SLF, the shining star. MFC was in the doldrums following the financial crisis. Recently, MFC has taken the lead. SLF has had issues with asset management. Chart shows it's not doing badly.
If you own it, don't be afraid of it. He needs either a macro or company-specific hiccup to happen before putting new $$ to work in the market. Watch out for headline contagion risk from private credit issues.
Owned in the past. Now MFC is his only insurance position.
SLF and MFC remain two of his core holdings in financials. The restructuring announcement from a couple of days ago should prove quite profitable. Last quarter's ROE was just over 18%, aiming for 20%.
Still a Buy at current levels.
Michael Sprung
His preference is to own SLF and MFC in the sector. Likes their growth in Asian asset management.
Martin Cobb, ASIPA great, well-managed company. The institutional business is picking, but retail is falling. He will hold for a long time and will be fine. Buy around $80.
Bruce MurrayHolding onto this one, despite selling MFC due to range-bound performance right now.
Stan WongBeat EPS estimates today. (MFC had a lower week as well.) High quality. Long term, exposure to Asia and aging demographic make a lot of sense. 10x forward PE, not bad. Nice yield of 4.5%, especially in falling interest rate environment, and expected to grow 8-9% annually. Could be an opportunity.
SLF reported an underlying EPS of CA$1.79, in line with expectations of CA$1.78. Underlying Return on Equity (ROE) declined slightly to 17.6% from 18.1% in the same quarter last year. The financial leverage ratio remains healthy and in line with historical averages. SLF’s results across segments demonstrated healthy growth, except its asset management & wealth segment, where income was in line with the prior year and assets under management (AUM) growth was only 5%. The company spent $400M on share repurchases during the quarter. The share price is under pressure as SLF mentioned the company could miss its 2025 profit target for its dental business in the U.S. due to the uncertainty around Medicaid funding. Overall, results were not that impressive; that being said, it is just one weak quarter. We think the long-term thesis of SLF as a high-quality dividend growth insurance name is still intact.
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It has large businesses in India and the US. Canadians overpay for life insurance because of the lack of transparency, but this benefits the lifecos. Great earnings and dividend growth and margins. A great track record, too.
Lorne SteinbergIf you own, hold on. Yield curve is somewhat favourable to them as it's normalizing (with short rates dropping and long rates staying put here and in US). Valuation is fine, below the banks. Delivered on last 2 quarters. Not much growth. MFC has done better job expanding in Asia. Decent yield.
Chart looks great. Above 200-day and 200-week MAs, which are both moving higher. Not explosive growth, but steady eddy instead. 11-12x forward PE. Pretty decent dividend of 4%.
Stan WongNow is a good time to take some money off the table. Financials have outperformed the fundamentals in the next few years. Wait for a better entry point, when the market dips as it did in early April, which he expects in the near future. Good company, track record and dividend. No problem with SLF fundamentally.
Financials are a theme we are going to be focused on for the next number of years. Insurance, banking and investment dealers all do well when long-term rates are rising. We turned a long-term corner on interest rates at the beginning of last year, and reversed a 30-year trend to lower rates. This is not going to be a straight line. You own this because you like their asset management and wealth management businesses. In the last couple of months, long term rates have pulled back a little, so the whole insurance sector has been under some pressure. He prefers Manulife (MFC-T) from a technical perspective, as well as some US companies. However, you should do well with the whole group.