Cash reserve is a plus

Article Excerpt

MANULIFE FINANCIAL $19.31 (Toronto symbol MFC; Shares outstanding: 1.8 billion; Market cap: $33.9 billion; SI Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 2.7%) sells life and other forms of insurance, as well as mutual funds and investment management services. It operates in 22 countries. Manulife has $440 billion of assets under management. In the three months ended December 31, 2009, Manulife earned $868 million, or $0.51 a share. A year earlier, the company lost $1.9 billion, or $1.24 a share. The year-earlier loss largely resulted from stock-market declines and the cost of increasing reserves for its segregated-fund guarantees. In December 2008, Manulife sold $2.3 billion of new shares to strengthen its balance sheet. In September 2009, the company cut its quarterly dividend by 50%, to $0.13 from $0.26, to further build its cash reserves. The shares yield 2.7%. Manulife has reorganized its U.S. operations to cut its costs and reduce its risk. The company has also sold an additional $2.5 billion of new shares to…