manulife financial
Toronto symbol MFC, sells life and other forms of insurance, as well as mutual funds and investment management services. It operates in 19 countries and territories worldwide.
Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) give you a low-cost, flexible alternative to mutual funds. Here are five ETFs we recommend and one to sell.
GREAT-WEST LIFECO INC. $35 (Toronto symbol GWO; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 993.2 million; Market cap: $34.8 billion; Priceto- sales ratio: 1.0; Dividend Yield: 3.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.greatwestlifeco.com) is Canada’s second-largest insurance company, after Manulife Financial (Toronto symbol MFC). In the past few years, the company has expanded its presence in Ireland. In July 2013, it paid $1.75 billion for Irish Life, Ireland’s largest pension manager and life insurance provider. Irish Life recently announced two small acquisitions: it is buying Aviva Health, and increasing its stake in GloHealth from 49% to 100%. The company did not say how much it will pay, but these purchases will let it sell health insurance products to its Irish clients....
CAE INC. $15 (Toronto symbol CAE; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 269.9 million; Market cap: $4.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.6; Dividend yield: 2.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.cae.com) is a leading maker of flight simulators and operator of pilot-training schools in over 30 countries. The company recently won several contracts for flight simulators and related equipment from military clients in Canada, the U.S., the U.K. and Australia. In all, these deals are worth $175 million, or 7% of the company’s $2.4 billion of annual revenue. CAE’s military businesses supply 35% of its sales. That cuts its reliance on cyclical commercial airlines....
MANULIFE FINANCIAL CORP. $18.04 (Toronto symbol MFC; Shares outstanding: 2.0 billion; Market cap: $35.1 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 4.1%; www.manulife.ca) sells life and other related forms of insurance, as well as mutual funds and investment management services. In the three months ended December 31, 2015, Manulife’s earnings per share dropped sharply, to $0.11 from $0.33. That was largely due to writedowns in the value of its own investments in oil and gas stocks. However, excluding one-time items, per-share earnings rose 16.7%, to $0.42 from $0.36. The company continues to expand in growing Asian markets. Right now, about 40% of its insurance premiums come from that region....
SUN LIFE FINANCIAL $41.71 (Toronto symbol SLF; Shares outstanding: 612.3 million; Market cap: $25.4 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 3.7%; www.sunlife.ca) sells life insurance, savings, retirement and pension products to individuals and corporations. The company has $891.3 billion of assets under management and mainly operates in Canada, the U.S. and the U.K. It’s also expanding in Asia. In the three months ended December 31, 2015, Sun Life’s earnings per share rose 7.4%, to $0.87 from $0.81. The company continues to diversify in the U.S. At the same time, it’s focusing on highly profitable niche markets with low capital requirements....
GREAT-WEST LIFECO INC. $35 (Toronto symbol GWO; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 993.4 million; Market cap: $34.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.0; Dividend Yield: 3.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.greatwestlifeco.com) is Canada’s second-largest insurance company, after Manulife Financial (Toronto symbol MFC). It also offers mutual funds, retirement planning and wealth management. Power Financial (Toronto symbol PWF) owns 71.4% of Great-West. As of December 31, 2015, the company had $1.2 trillion of assets under administration, up 14.0% from a year earlier. Great-West gets 43% of its earnings from Canada, where it operates under well-known labels Great-West Life, Canada Life and Freedom 55. The European division (42% of earnings) mainly sells group insurance and annuity products in the U.K., Ireland and Germany....
We continue to recommend that Canada’s big five banks make up the bulk of the Finance portion of your portfolio. Investors should also diversify their Finance holdings with high-quality non-bank stocks, such as the three we analyze below. GREAT-WEST LIFECO INC. $35 (Toronto symbol GWO; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 993.4 million; Market cap: $34.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.0; Dividend Yield: 3.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.greatwestlifeco.com) is Canada’s second-largest insurance company, after Manulife Financial (Toronto symbol MFC). It also offers mutual funds, retirement planning and wealth management. Power Financial (Toronto symbol PWF) owns 71.4% of Great-West....
ISHARES S&P/TSX 60 INDEX ETF $18.65 (Toronto symbol XIU; buy or sell through brokers; ca.ishares.com) is a good low-fee way to buy the top stocks on the TSX. The units are made up of stocks that represent the S&P/TSX 60 Index, which consists of the 60 largest, most heavily traded stocks on the exchange. The ETF’s MER is just 0.18% of assets, and the units yield 3.2%. The index mostly consists of high-quality companies. However, it must ensure that all sectors are represented, so it holds a few we wouldn’t include. The index’s top holdings are Royal Bank, 8.7%; TD Bank, 8.0%; Bank of Nova Scotia, 5.6%; CN Railway, 4.8%; BCE, 4.0%; Bank of Montreal, 3.9%; Suncor Energy, 3.8%; Valeant Pharmaceuticals, 3.5%; Enbridge Inc., 3.3%; and Manulife Financial Corp., 3.1%....
We feel that investors will profit the most by holding a well-balanced portfolio of high-quality stocks. However, if you don’t want to build a portfolio, or you want to supplement your individual stock holdings, then ETFs can provide a great alternative. The main factors we use to evaluate ETFs are the stocks they hold, the diversification of their holdings across the five economic sectors and the fees (MERs) they charge. In general, investors holding mainly ETFs would want, say, 60% in Canadian ETFs and 20% to 30% in U.S. ETFs....
MANULIFE FINANCIAL $18.16 (Toronto symbol MFC; Shares outstanding: 2.0 billion; Market cap: $37.9 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 3.7%; www.manulife.ca) sells life and other related forms of insurance, as well as mutual funds and investment management services. In the three months ended September 30, 2015, Manulife’s earnings per share, excluding one-time items, gained 10.3%, to $0.43 from $0.39 a year earlier. Revenue rose 16.2%, to $7.48 billion from $6.44 billion. The company continues to expand in growing Asian markets. Right now, about 40% of its insurance premiums come from that region....