Go beyond the big banks with these three

Article Excerpt

We continue to recommend that all investors aim to own two or more of Canada’s big five banks. In addition, conservative investors should diversify their Finance-sector holdings with Great-West and IGM. Investors who can accept more risk may also want to consider Home Capital (see box). GREAT-WEST LIFECO INC. $32 (Toronto symbol GWO; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 1.0 billion; Market cap: $32.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.3; Dividend Yield: 3.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.greatwestlifeco.com) is one of Canada’s largest insurance companies, with $705.1 billion of assets under administration. It also sells mutual funds and retirement planning and wealth management services. Power Financial (Toronto symbol PFC) owns 68.1% of Great-West. In July 2013, the company completed its $1.75- billion purchase of Irish Life Group, Ireland’s largest pension manager and life insurance provider. If you exclude costs to integrate Irish Life, Great-West would have earned $583 million in the three months ended September 30, 2013. That includes $41 million…