manulife financial

MANULIFE FINANCIAL $21.24 (Toronto symbol MFC; Shares outstanding: 1.8 billion; Market cap: $39.2 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 2.5%; www.manulife.ca) sells life and other forms of insurance, as well as mutual funds and investment-management services. The company operates globally and has $599 billion of assets under management.

Manulife’s earnings per share rose 25.0% in the three months ended December 31, 2013, to $0.35 from $0.28 a year earlier. However, revenue declined 2.4%, to $5.92 billion from $6.07 billion. Insurance revenue fell mostly due to lower sales in Asia, where the year-earlier quarter was unusually strong ahead of tax changes. That offset higher demand for mutual funds and investment products.

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SUN LIFE FINANCIAL (Toronto symbol SLF; www.sunlife.ca) sells savings, retirement, pension and life insurance products to individuals and corporations....

SUN LIFE FINANCIAL $38.90 (Toronto symbol SLF; Shares outstanding: 609.4 million; Market cap: $23.7 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 3.7%; www.sunlife.ca) sells savings, retirement, pension and life insurance products to individuals and corporations.

Sun Life mainly operates in Canada, the U.S....

Exchange traded funds (ETFs) are set up to mirror the performance of a stock-market index or sub-index. They hold a more or less fixed selection of securities that represent the holdings that go into the calculation of the index or sub-index.

ETFs trade on stock exchanges, just like stocks....

ISHARES MSCI CANADA INDEX FUND $28.59 (New York symbol EWC; buy or sell through brokers; ca.ishares.com) holds the stocks in the Morgan Stanley Capital International Canada Index. The fund has a 0.49% MER.

The index’s top holdings are Royal Bank, 7.4%; TD Bank, 6.5%; Bank of Nova Scotia, 5.7%; Suncor Energy, 4.0%; CN Railway, 3.7%; Bank of Montreal, 3.5%; Manulife Financial, 2.7%; Canadian Natural Resources, 2.7%; CIBC, 2.7%; Valeant Pharmaceuticals, 2.7%; and Enbridge, 2.5%.

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ISHARES S&P/TSX 60 INDEX FUND $19.25 (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. Expenses are just 0.17% of assets.

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, 8.3%; TD Bank, 7.3%; Bank of Nova Scotia, 6.4%; Suncor Energy, 4.5%; CN Railway, 4.1%; Bank of Montreal, 3.9%; Manulife Financial, 3.1%; Canadian Natural Resources, 3.1%; CIBC, 3.0%; BCE, 3.0%; Enbridge, 3.0%; Valeant Pharmaceuticals, 2.9%; TransCanada Corporation, 2.7%; Potash Corp., 2.4%; CP Rail, 2.1%; Telus, 2.0%; and Cenovus, 1.9%.
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iShares Canadian Fundamental Index Fund ETF, $13.39, symbol CRQ on Toronto (Units outstanding: 16.8 million; Market cap: $225.0 million; ca.ishares.com), aims to track the FTSE RAFI Canada Index. The ETF’s top 10 holdings are Royal Bank, 7.2%; TD Bank, 6.2%; Bank of Nova Scotia, 5.0%; Manulife Financial, 4.6%; Suncor Energy, 4.4%; Bank of Montreal, 4.0%; Encana, 3.3%; CIBC, 3.0%; Canadian Natural Resources, 2.8%; and Sun Life Financial, 2.6%. Its expenses are 0.72% of its assets. The RAFI (Research Affiliates Fundamental Index) methodology aims to select companies by the highest fundamental measures of their size, rather than by market capitalization (or the value of all their outstanding shares)....

Exchange traded funds (ETFs) are set up to mirror the performance of a stock-market index or subindex. They hold a more or less fixed selection of securities that represent the holdings that go into the calculation of the index or sub-index....

Exchange traded funds (ETFs) are set up to mirror the performance of a stock-market index or subindex. They hold a more or less fixed selection of securities that represent the holdings that go into the calculation of the index or sub-index.

ETFs trade on stock exchanges, just like stocks....

SUN LIFE FINANCIAL (Toronto symbol SLF; www.sunlife.ca) sells savings, retirement, pension and life insurance products to individuals and corporations....