Manulife Financial (MFC) Competitors

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

Is MFC or L more profitable?

Manulife Financial has a net margin of 17.34% compared to Loblaw Companies' net margin of 3.46%. Loblaw Companies' return on equity of 19.22% beat Manulife Financial's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Manulife Financial	17.34%	10.41%	0.55%
Loblaw Companies	3.46%	19.22%	5.89%

Do analysts prefer MFC or L?

Manulife Financial currently has a consensus price target of C$40.82, indicating a potential downside of 1.21%. Loblaw Companies has a consensus price target of C$178.29, indicating a potential upside of 0.18%. Given Loblaw Companies' higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Loblaw Companies is more favorable than Manulife Financial.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Manulife Financial	1 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	8 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.69
Loblaw Companies	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.67

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

60.2% of Manulife Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 20.7% of Loblaw Companies shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.0% of Manulife Financial shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 53.8% of Loblaw Companies shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Which has more volatility & risk, MFC or L?

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

Which has preferable valuation and earnings, MFC or L?

Manulife Financial has higher earnings, but lower revenue 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
Manulife Financial	C$28.48B	2.57	C$4.24B	C$2.35	17.58
Loblaw Companies	C$60.32B	0.90	C$2.08B	C$6.60	26.97

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in MFC or L?

Loblaw Companies received 71 more outperform votes than Manulife Financial when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 66.77% of users gave Loblaw Companies an outperform vote while only 66.43% of users gave Manulife Financial an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Manulife Financial	Outperform Votes 568 66.43%	Underperform Votes 287 33.57%
Loblaw Companies	Outperform Votes 639 66.77%	Underperform Votes 318 33.23%

Does the media refer more to MFC or L?

In the previous week, Manulife Financial had 12 more articles in the media than Loblaw Companies. MarketBeat recorded 15 mentions for Manulife Financial and 3 mentions for Loblaw Companies. Manulife Financial's average media sentiment score of 0.72 beat Loblaw Companies' score of 0.12 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	4 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	5 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Loblaw Companies	0 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Is MFC or L a better dividend stock?

Manulife Financial pays an annual dividend of C$1.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.9%. Loblaw Companies pays an annual dividend of C$2.05 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. Manulife Financial pays out 68.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Loblaw Companies pays out 31.1% 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.

Summary

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