Loblaw Companies (L) Competitors

Loblaw Companies (TSE:L) and Manulife Financial (TSE:MFC) are both large-cap consumer defensive companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, community ranking, earnings, risk, media sentiment, profitability, dividends, analyst recommendations and valuation.

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in L or MFC?

Loblaw Companies received 74 more outperform votes than Manulife Financial when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 66.39% of users gave Loblaw Companies an outperform vote while only 65.82% of users gave Manulife Financial an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Loblaw Companies	Outperform Votes 644 66.39%	Underperform Votes 326 33.61%
Manulife Financial	Outperform Votes 570 65.82%	Underperform Votes 296 34.18%

Do institutionals & insiders believe in L or MFC?

20.7% of Loblaw Companies shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 60.2% of Manulife Financial shares are held by institutional investors. 53.8% of Loblaw Companies shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.0% of Manulife Financial shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Is L or MFC more profitable?

Manulife Financial has a net margin of 12.52% compared to Loblaw Companies' net margin of 3.71%. Loblaw Companies' return on equity of 19.90% beat Manulife Financial's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Loblaw Companies	3.71%	19.90%	5.89%
Manulife Financial	12.52%	11.75%	0.55%

Do analysts rate L or MFC?

Loblaw Companies presently has a consensus price target of C$199.38, indicating a potential downside of 2.81%. Manulife Financial has a consensus price target of C$45.60, indicating a potential upside of 15.44%. Given Manulife Financial's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Manulife Financial is more favorable than Loblaw Companies.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Loblaw Companies	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.71
Manulife Financial	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.86

Which has more risk & volatility, L or MFC?

Loblaw Companies has a beta of 0.17, suggesting that its stock price is 83% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Manulife Financial has a beta of 1.06, suggesting that its stock price is 6% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Is L or MFC a better dividend stock?

Loblaw Companies pays an annual dividend of C$2.05 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.0%. Manulife Financial pays an annual dividend of C$1.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.1%. Loblaw Companies pays out 27.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Manulife Financial pays out 49.8% 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.

Does the media refer more to L or MFC?

In the previous week, Loblaw Companies had 1 more articles in the media than Manulife Financial. MarketBeat recorded 3 mentions for Loblaw Companies and 2 mentions for Manulife Financial. Manulife Financial's average media sentiment score of 1.18 beat Loblaw Companies' score of 0.90 indicating that Manulife Financial is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Loblaw Companies	2 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Manulife Financial	2 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has stronger valuation & earnings, L or MFC?

Manulife Financial has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Loblaw Companies. Manulife Financial is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Loblaw Companies, 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
Loblaw Companies	C$60.23B	1.03	C$2.23B	C$7.37	27.84
Manulife Financial	C$45.06B	1.54	C$5.64B	C$3.21	12.29

Summary

Loblaw Companies beats Manulife Financial on 11 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.