Manulife Sees Decent Quarter with Wealth and Asset Management Boosting Profits

No-moat-rated Manulife’s third-quarter results were a tad shy of expectations, with core earnings of CAD 0.76 coming in CAD 0.03 below FactSet consensus. Core earnings grew 10%, with the global wealth and asset management the largest contributor to growth. Given market appreciation, we’d expect this unit to perform well. Canada earnings were also strong, with the U.S. and Asia lacking. The firm’s core return on equity during the quarter was 12.0%, an improvement from 11.4% in the year-ago period. Overall, there was little in the firm’s earnings release that would alter our long-term view of the firm, and we will maintain our fair value estimate of CAD 26.