SLF vs. MFC, L, GWO, PRU, CIA, ALS, STC, CNC, PIH, and ROOT
Should you be buying Sun Life Financial stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Sun Life Financial include Manulife Financial (MFC), Loblaw Companies (L), Great-West Lifeco (GWO), Perseus Mining (PRU), Champion Iron (CIA), Altius Minerals (ALS), Sangoma Technologies (STC), Canada Nickel (CNC), 8002 (PIH.TO) (PIH), and Roots (ROOT). These companies are all part of the "insurance" industry.
Sun Life Financial vs.
Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) and Manulife Financial (TSE:MFC) are both large-cap financial services companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, institutional ownership, earnings, analyst recommendations, community ranking, valuation, media sentiment, profitability and risk.
Sun Life Financial pays an annual dividend of C$3.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.2%. Manulife Financial pays an annual dividend of C$1.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.7%. Sun Life Financial pays out 48.9% 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. Sun Life Financial is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.
Manulife Financial has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Sun Life Financial. Sun Life Financial is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Manulife Financial, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Manulife Financial has a net margin of 12.52% compared to Sun Life Financial's net margin of 7.58%. Sun Life Financial's return on equity of 15.69% beat Manulife Financial's return on equity.
Sun Life Financial received 81 more outperform votes than Manulife Financial when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 65.82% of users gave Manulife Financial an outperform vote while only 61.94% of users gave Sun Life Financial an outperform vote.
Sun Life Financial has a beta of 0.94, indicating that its stock price is 6% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Manulife Financial has a beta of 1.06, indicating that its stock price is 6% more volatile than the S&P 500.
In the previous week, Sun Life Financial had 10 more articles in the media than Manulife Financial. MarketBeat recorded 28 mentions for Sun Life Financial and 18 mentions for Manulife Financial. Manulife Financial's average media sentiment score of 0.84 beat Sun Life Financial's score of 0.16 indicating that Manulife Financial is being referred to more favorably in the news media.
56.5% of Sun Life Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 60.2% of Manulife Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.0% of Sun Life Financial shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.0% of Manulife Financial shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.
Sun Life Financial currently has a consensus price target of C$87.10, indicating a potential upside of 12.07%. Manulife Financial has a consensus price target of C$45.60, indicating a potential upside of 5.65%. Given Sun Life Financial's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe Sun Life Financial is more favorable than Manulife Financial.
Summary
Sun Life Financial beats Manulife Financial on 11 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.
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New MarketBeat Followers Over Time
This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding {thisCompany.Symbol} and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
Media Sentiment Over Time
This chart shows the average media sentiment of TSE and its competitors over the past 90 days as caculated by MarketBeat. The averaged score is equivalent to the following: Very Negative Sentiment <= -1.5, Negative Sentiment > -1.5 and <= -0.5, Neutral Sentiment > -0.5 and < 0.5, Positive Sentiment >= 0.5 and < 1.5, and Very Positive Sentiment >= 1.5.
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This page (TSE:SLF) was last updated on 2/22/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff
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