Analysts continue to rate Lifecos better buy than banks Globe says Sunlife maintained at "sector outperform"
Sun Life Financial Inc (C:SLF)
Shares Issued 578,405,077
Last Close 8/1/2024 $67.33
Friday August 2 2024 - In the News
The Globe and Mail reports in its Friday, Aug. 2, edition that Scotia Capital analyst Meny Grauman has low expectations for second quarter earnings in the Canadian life insurance industry, despite seeing "lots of macro tailwinds." The Globe's David Leeder writes in the Eye On Equities column that Mr. Grauman says in a note: "We have favoured Canadian lifecos over Canadian banks since the beginning of the year, and despite 634 basis points of insurance outperformance we continue to believe that this trade has further room to go. ... Insurers still have an edge over banks when it comes to capital deployment including buybacks, which should provide a further boost to EPS growth across the group both this quarter and [into 2025]. Lifecos continue to be in a position to meet and even exceed their medium-term financial targets for both EPS growth and ROEs, while banks are likely to continue to struggle as PCL ratios have yet to peak, and loan growth remains constrained by a slowing economy and an over-levered consumer despite recent rate cuts in Canada." Mr. Grauman rates Sunlife Financial "sector outperform." Mr. Grauman continues to target the shares at $73. Analysts on average target the shares at $75.50