Two Finance buys for value and income

Article Excerpt

Great-West and IGM have moved down lately due to concerns over slowing economic growth and volatile stock markets. However, both companies are leaders in their fields, and both are cheap in relation to their earnings. They also have long histories of raising their dividends. GREAT-WEST LIFECO INC. $21 (Toronto symbol GWO; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 949.8 million; Market cap: $19.9 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.7; Dividend Yield: 5.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.greatwestlifeco.com) is Canada’s largest insurance company, with $523.0 billion of assets under administration. It also sells mutual funds, as well as retirement-planning and wealthmanagement services. Canada accounts for 53% of the company’s earnings, followed by Europe (31%) and the U.S. (16%). In the three months ended March 31, 2012, Great-West’s earnings rose 8.7%, to $451 million, or $0.48 a share. A year earlier, it earned $415 million, or $0.44 a share. Revenue rose 3.9%, to $6.5 billion from $6.3 billion. The gains mainly came from its European division, which…