Equitable (EQH) Competitors

Manulife Financial (NYSE:MFC) and Equitable (NYSE:EQH) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their community ranking, institutional ownership, media sentiment, dividends, profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations, risk and valuation.

Which has better earnings and valuation, MFC or EQH?

Manulife Financial has higher revenue and earnings than Equitable. Equitable is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Manulife Financial, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Manulife Financial	$36.10B	1.56	$4.05B	$2.07	15.55
Equitable	$10.53B	1.39	$1.30B	-$1.09	-42.86

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in MFC or EQH?

Manulife Financial received 192 more outperform votes than Equitable when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 67.95% of users gave Manulife Financial an outperform vote while only 60.73% of users gave Equitable an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Manulife Financial	Outperform Votes 458 67.95%	Underperform Votes 216 32.05%
Equitable	Outperform Votes 266 60.73%	Underperform Votes 172 39.27%

Does the media favor MFC or EQH?

In the previous week, Manulife Financial had 5 more articles in the media than Equitable. MarketBeat recorded 15 mentions for Manulife Financial and 10 mentions for Equitable. Equitable's average media sentiment score of 1.03 beat Manulife Financial's score of 0.90 indicating that Equitable is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Manulife Financial	7 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	7 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Equitable	6 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is MFC or EQH more profitable?

Manulife Financial has a net margin of 9.79% compared to Equitable's net margin of -2.64%. Equitable's return on equity of 76.47% beat Manulife Financial's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Manulife Financial	9.79%	16.11%	0.77%
Equitable	-2.64%	76.47%	0.68%

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of MFC or EQH?

52.6% of Manulife Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 92.7% of Equitable shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.0% of Manulife Financial shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.1% of Equitable shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Is MFC or EQH a better dividend stock?

Manulife Financial pays an annual dividend of $1.16 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.6%. Equitable pays an annual dividend of $0.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.1%. Manulife Financial pays out 56.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Equitable pays out -88.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Manulife Financial has increased its dividend for 11 consecutive years. Manulife Financial is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Which has more risk & volatility, MFC or EQH?

Manulife Financial has a beta of 1.08, indicating that its stock price is 8% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Equitable has a beta of 1.4, indicating that its stock price is 40% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Do analysts rate MFC or EQH?

Manulife Financial presently has a consensus target price of $37.50, indicating a potential upside of 16.50%. Equitable has a consensus target price of $48.70, indicating a potential upside of 4.24%. Given Manulife Financial's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Manulife Financial is more favorable than Equitable.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Manulife Financial	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	6 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
Equitable	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.70

Summary

Manulife Financial beats Equitable on 15 of the 22 factors compared between the two stocks.