MFC vs. BRP: Which Stock Should Value Investors Buy Now?

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Investors with an interest in Insurance - Life Insurance stocks have likely encountered both Manulife Financial (MFC) and BRP Group (BRP). But which of these two stocks presents investors with the better value opportunity right now? Let's take a closer look.

The best way to find great value stocks is to pair a strong Zacks Rank with an impressive grade in the Value category of our Style Scores system. The proven Zacks Rank puts an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions, while our Style Scores work to identify stocks with specific traits.

Manulife Financial has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while BRP Group has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now. The Zacks Rank favors stocks that have recently seen positive revisions to their earnings estimates, so investors should rest assured that MFC has an improving earnings outlook. But this is just one piece of the puzzle for value investors.

Value investors are also interested in a number of tried-and-true valuation metrics that help show when a company is undervalued at its current share price levels.

Our Value category highlights undervalued companies by looking at a variety of key metrics, including the popular P/E ratio, as well as the P/S ratio, earnings yield, cash flow per share, and a variety of other fundamentals that have been used by value investors for years.

MFC currently has a forward P/E ratio of 7.65, while BRP has a forward P/E of 21.17. We also note that MFC has a PEG ratio of 0.77. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. BRP currently has a PEG ratio of 0.88.

Another notable valuation metric for MFC is its P/B ratio of 1.11. The P/B ratio is used to compare a stock's market value with its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. For comparison, BRP has a P/B of 2.58.

These are just a few of the metrics contributing to MFC's Value grade of A and BRP's Value grade of D.

MFC is currently sporting an improving earnings outlook, which makes it stick out in our Zacks Rank model. And, based on the above valuation metrics, we feel that MFC is likely the superior value option right now.

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Manulife Financial Corp (MFC) : Free Stock Analysis Report

BRP Group, Inc. (BRP) : Free Stock Analysis Report

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