High yield at a bargain

Article Excerpt

GREAT-WEST LIFECO $30.65 (Toronto symbol GWO; Shares outstanding: 999.0 million; Market cap: $30.6 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Yield: 4.0%; www.greatwestlifeco.com) is Canada’s largest insurance company. It also offers mutual funds and wealth management. In the quarter ended March 31, 2014, earnings per share rose 9.3%, to $0.59 from $0.54 a year earlier. Great-West has $805.9 billion of assets under administration. Earnings at the Canadian division (50% of the total) rose 10.9%. The European division (44%)—including Irish Life, acquired in July 2013—saw 34.9% higher profits. Losses widened at the U.S. division’s Putnam mutual fund business, cutting overall U.S. earnings by 42.3%, but the U.S. makes up just 6% of total profits. The stock trades at just 11.6 times Great-West’s forecast 2014 earnings of $2.64 a share. Great-West Lifeco is still a buy. buy…