5-Star Stocks Poised to Pop: Manulife Financial

Based on the aggregated intelligence of 120,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, Canadian life insurance giant Manulife Financial (NYSE: MFC) has earned a coveted five-star ranking. Our data has shown that five-star stocks outperform the market by a significant margin; conversely, one-star stocks have woefully lagged the market average.

With that in mind, let's take a closer look at Manulife's business, and see what CAPS investors are saying about the stock right now.

Manulife facts

Headquarters (founded)	Toronto (1887)
Market Cap	$25.7 billion
Industry	Life and Health Insurance
TTM Revenue	$25.2 billion
Management	CEO Dominic D'Alessandro CFO Peter Rubenovitch
Return on Equity (average last three years)	15.8%
Dividend Yield	4.9%
Competitors	Sun Life Financial, Prudential Financial (NYSE: PRU)
CAPS members bullish on MFC also bullish on	General Electric (NYSE: GE), Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ)
CAPS members bearish on MFC also bearish on	UBS (NYSE: UBS), GameStop (NYSE: GME)

Sources: Capital IQ, a division of Standard & Poor's, and Motley Fool CAPS. TTM = trailing 12 months.

Over on CAPS, some 98% of the 358 members who have rated Manulife believe the stock will outperform the S&P 500 going forward. These bulls include CAPS All-Stars mulledover and baillirw, both of whom are ranked in the top 20% of our community.

A month ago, mulledover kept the Manulife bull case simple: "Life insurer, good mgmt generally, might have been a bit more defensive with investments (ie hedged better). Should pick up some of AIG's (NYSE: AIG) business."

In a more detailed pitch from early last year, baillirw agrees, highlighting the stock as an attractive dividend and global growth play:

Domestically, Manulife is in a great position to excel in both Canadian and American markets, however, its positions in Asia and more importantly, China, are of particular interest. Did you know that only 6% of the Chinese have life insurance? Can you spell underdeveloped market? With superior access to these fast growing markets, I feel that Manulife can continue to outperform its industry peers for years to come, whether you look at stock price, dividend growth or earnings growth. Because of these factors, I can understand why Manulife deserves a superior multiple to its competitors as first class merchandise always sells for top dollar.

Copyright © 2008 Universal Press Syndicate.