SLF vs. MFC, L, GWO, PRU, CIA, ALS, CNC, STC, 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), Canada Nickel (CNC), Sangoma Technologies (STC), 8002 (PIH.TO) (PIH), and Roots (ROOT). These companies are all part of the "insurance" industry.
Sun Life Financial vs.
Manulife Financial (TSE:MFC) and Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) are both large-cap financial services companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, earnings, valuation, risk, profitability, community ranking, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations and media sentiment.
In the previous week, Manulife Financial had 5 more articles in the media than Sun Life Financial. MarketBeat recorded 7 mentions for Manulife Financial and 2 mentions for Sun Life Financial. Sun Life Financial's average media sentiment score of 0.00 beat Manulife Financial's score of -0.24 indicating that Sun Life Financial is being referred to more favorably in the news media.
Sun Life Financial received 83 more outperform votes than Manulife Financial when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 65.78% of users gave Manulife Financial an outperform vote while only 61.99% of users gave Sun Life Financial an outperform vote.
60.2% of Manulife Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 56.5% of Sun Life Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.0% of Manulife Financial shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.0% of Sun Life Financial shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
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.
Manulife Financial presently has a consensus target price of C$46.60, suggesting a potential upside of 15.09%. Sun Life Financial has a consensus target price of C$87.00, suggesting a potential upside of 10.17%. Given Manulife Financial's higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Manulife Financial is more favorable than Sun Life Financial.
Manulife Financial has higher earnings, but lower revenue 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 pays an annual dividend of C$1.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.0%. Sun Life Financial pays an annual dividend of C$3.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.1%. Manulife Financial pays out 49.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Sun Life Financial pays out 48.9% 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 a beta of 1.06, suggesting that its stock price is 6% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Sun Life Financial has a beta of 0.94, suggesting that its stock price is 6% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Summary
Sun Life Financial beats Manulife Financial on 10 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.
Get Sun Life Financial News Delivered to You Automatically
Sign up to receive the latest news and ratings for SLF and its competitors with MarketBeat's FREE daily newsletter.
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.
Skip ChartMedia 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.
Skip Chart
Sun Life Financial Competitors List
Related Companies and Tools
This page (TSE:SLF) was last updated on 4/16/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff