Manulife is the kind of stock you hold forever and it is likely to reward you handsomely.
The company went public in 1999 at $10 and it grows 400% to $40 in 9 years time. Maulife never lost money since it went public and has been growing its book value year after year.
| | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 |
| Earnings per Share $ | 2.53 | 2.06 | 1.83 | 1.67 | 1.45 | 1.20 | 1.11 |
| Earnings Growth % | 23.11 | 12.60 | 9.61 | 14.83 | 20.83 | 8.11 | 26.86 |
| Dividends per Share $ | 0.72 | 0.58 | 0.47 | 0.39 | 0.30 | 0.24 | 0.20 |
| Dividend Yield % | 1.97 | 1.88 | 1.86 | 2.01 | 1.61 | 1.16 | 1.26 |
| Avg. Price/Sales | 1.68 | 1.54 | 1.30 | 1.08 | 1.07 | 1.23 | 1.09 |
| Avg. Price/Earnings | 14.55 | 15.00 | 13.82 | 11.65 | 12.84 | 17.21 | 14.34 |
| Avg. Price/Cash Flow | 7.15 | 6.01 | 6.12 | 6.77 | 7.85 | n.m. | 8.04 |
| Avg. Price/Book Value | 2.28 | 2.08 | 1.76 | 2.02 | 1.97 | 2.40 | 2.13 |
| Tangible Book Value/Sh $ | 10.24 | 8.96 | 8.64 | 8.99 | 8.76 | 8.60 | 7.48 |
| Cash Flow/Share $ | 5.15 | 5.13 | 4.12 | 2.87 | 2.37 | -2.83 | 1.98 |
| Earnings Yield % | 6.87 | 6.67 | 7.23 | 8.58 | 7.79 | 5.81 | 6.98 |
| Estimated Payback (yrs) | 8.56 | 9.09 | 8.32 | 7.18 | 7.78 | 9.58 | 8.37 |
| Price - Fiscal High $ | 39.80 | 35.00 | 29.60 | 21.85 | 23.43 | 24.13 | 24.20 |
| Price - Fiscal Low $ | 33.83 | 26.65 | 20.86 | 16.95 | 13.81 | 17.18 | 7.63 |
You can see from the chart above. Manulife has been growing its profits from 9% to 23% every year since 2000. The company has been increasing its dividend consistently every year since 2000. Dividend per share was $0.2 in 2000 and it is now $0.72 in 2006.
Steady growth in profits and dividends is the reason why this a good stock to own in any portfolio.
$39.48 (09/16/07)
