Prudential (PUK) Competitors

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

Is MFC or PUK more profitable?

Manulife Financial has a net margin of 9.79% compared to Prudential's net margin of 0.00%. Manulife Financial's return on equity of 16.11% beat Prudential's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Manulife Financial	9.79%	16.11%	0.77%
Prudential	N/A	N/A	N/A

Is MFC or PUK a better dividend stock?

Manulife Financial pays an annual dividend of $1.23 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.0%. Prudential pays an annual dividend of $0.27 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.7%. Manulife Financial pays out 59.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. 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 stronger earnings and valuation, MFC or PUK?

Manulife Financial has higher revenue and earnings than Prudential.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Manulife Financial	$36.10B	1.46	$4.05B	$2.07	14.77
Prudential	$7.52B	2.80	$1.70B	N/A	N/A

Do institutionals & insiders have more ownership in MFC or PUK?

52.6% of Manulife Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 1.9% of Prudential shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.0% of Manulife Financial shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of Prudential 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.

Does the media refer more to MFC or PUK?

In the previous week, Manulife Financial had 5 more articles in the media than Prudential. MarketBeat recorded 12 mentions for Manulife Financial and 7 mentions for Prudential. Prudential's average media sentiment score of 1.07 beat Manulife Financial's score of 0.95 indicating that Prudential is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Manulife Financial	6 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Prudential	5 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Does the MarketBeat Community favor MFC or PUK?

Manulife Financial received 6 more outperform votes than Prudential when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 67.95% of users gave Manulife Financial an outperform vote while only 61.75% of users gave Prudential an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Manulife Financial	Outperform Votes 458 67.95%	Underperform Votes 216 32.05%
Prudential	Outperform Votes 452 61.75%	Underperform Votes 280 38.25%

Do analysts prefer MFC or PUK?

Manulife Financial currently has a consensus target price of $37.50, indicating a potential upside of 22.65%. Given Manulife Financial's higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Manulife Financial is more favorable than Prudential.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Manulife Financial	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
Prudential	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Which has more risk and volatility, MFC or PUK?

Manulife Financial has a beta of 1.09, meaning that its stock price is 9% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Prudential has a beta of 1.2, meaning that its stock price is 20% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Manulife Financial beats Prudential on 13 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.