Two insurance stocks with gains ahead

Article Excerpt

SUN LIFE FINANCIAL $39.03 (Toronto symbol SLF; Shares outstanding: 612.7 million; Market cap: $24.0 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 3.7%; www.sunlife.ca) sells life insurance, savings, retirement and pension products to individuals and corporations. Sun Life has $734.4 billion of assets under management. It mainly operates in Canada, the U.S. and the U.K., but it continues to expand in Asia. In 2013, it sold its riskier, money-losing U.S. annuity business, which sells products that guarantee minimum long-term returns even if markets fall. In the three months ended December 31, 2014, Sun Life’s revenue rose to $3.87 billion from $3.86 billion a year earlier. Earnings per share fell 3.3%, to $0.59 from $0.61. Weaker insurance and wealth management results in the highly competitive U.S. market offset steady growth in Canada and Asia. Sun Life recently agreed to assume the longevity risk on $5 billion of BCE’s pension obligations. That’s the risk that pension plan members will live longer than originally…