Equitable (EQH) Competitors

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

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer MFC or EQH?

Manulife Financial received 178 more outperform votes than Equitable when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 68.05% of users gave Manulife Financial an outperform vote while only 61.84% of users gave Equitable an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Manulife Financial	Outperform Votes 460 68.05%	Underperform Votes 216 31.95%
Equitable	Outperform Votes 282 61.84%	Underperform Votes 174 38.16%

Which has more risk and volatility, MFC or EQH?

Manulife Financial has a beta of 0.89, meaning that its share price is 11% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Equitable has a beta of 1.23, meaning that its share price is 23% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media refer more to MFC or EQH?

In the previous week, Equitable had 2 more articles in the media than Manulife Financial. MarketBeat recorded 24 mentions for Equitable and 22 mentions for Manulife Financial. Manulife Financial's average media sentiment score of 1.20 beat Equitable's score of 1.18 indicating that Manulife Financial is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Manulife Financial	16 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Equitable	16 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do analysts prefer MFC or EQH?

Manulife Financial presently has a consensus price target of $45.50, indicating a potential upside of 56.93%. Equitable has a consensus price target of $60.91, indicating a potential upside of 28.73%. Given Manulife Financial's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, 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)	4 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
Equitable	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	10 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.91

Is MFC or EQH a better dividend stock?

Manulife Financial pays an annual dividend of $1.21 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.2%. Equitable pays an annual dividend of $0.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.0%. Manulife Financial pays out 58.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Equitable pays out 25.1% 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 raised its dividend for 12 consecutive years. Manulife Financial is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Which has stronger valuation and earnings, 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	$45.58B	1.09	$4.05B	$2.07	14.01
Equitable	$12.44B	1.17	$1.31B	$3.82	12.39

Do institutionals & insiders 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 large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Is MFC or EQH more profitable?

Equitable has a net margin of 10.51% compared to Manulife Financial's net margin of 10.08%. Equitable's return on equity of 85.70% beat Manulife Financial's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Manulife Financial	10.08%	15.98%	0.76%
Equitable	10.51%	85.70%	0.69%

Summary

Manulife Financial beats Equitable on 12 of the 22 factors compared between the two stocks.