Prudential (PUK) Competitors

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

Which has more risk & volatility, PUK or MFC?

Prudential has a beta of 1, indicating that its share price has a similar volatility profile to the S&P 500.Comparatively, Manulife Financial has a beta of 0.89, indicating that its share price is 11% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do analysts rate PUK or MFC?

Manulife Financial has a consensus price target of $45.50, suggesting a potential upside of 58.10%. Given Manulife Financial's higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Manulife Financial is more favorable than Prudential.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Prudential	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
Manulife Financial	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Which has better valuation and earnings, PUK or MFC?

Manulife Financial has higher revenue and earnings than Prudential. Prudential 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
Prudential	$8.14B	3.26	$1.70B	$2.32	8.70
Manulife Financial	$45.58B	1.08	$4.05B	$2.07	13.90

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

1.9% of Prudential shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 52.6% of Manulife Financial shares are held by institutional investors. 0.1% of Prudential shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.0% of Manulife Financial shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in PUK or MFC?

Manulife Financial received 7 more outperform votes than Prudential when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 68.05% of users gave Manulife Financial an outperform vote while only 61.55% of users gave Prudential an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Prudential	Outperform Votes 453 61.55%	Underperform Votes 283 38.45%
Manulife Financial	Outperform Votes 460 68.05%	Underperform Votes 216 31.95%

Is PUK or MFC a better dividend stock?

Prudential pays an annual dividend of $0.65 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. Manulife Financial pays an annual dividend of $1.21 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.2%. Prudential pays out 28.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Manulife Financial pays out 58.5% 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.

Does the media favor PUK or MFC?

In the previous week, Manulife Financial had 14 more articles in the media than Prudential. MarketBeat recorded 22 mentions for Manulife Financial and 8 mentions for Prudential. Manulife Financial's average media sentiment score of 1.20 beat Prudential's score of 1.15 indicating that Manulife Financial is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Prudential	7 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
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

Is PUK or MFC more profitable?

Manulife Financial has a net margin of 10.08% compared to Prudential's net margin of 0.00%. Manulife Financial's return on equity of 15.98% beat Prudential's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Prudential	N/A	N/A	N/A
Manulife Financial	10.08%	15.98%	0.76%

Summary

Manulife Financial beats Prudential on 15 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.