New businesses pay off for Great-West

Article Excerpt

GREAT-WEST LIFECO INC. $32 (Toronto symbol GWO; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 991.2 million; Market cap: $31.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.8; Dividend Yield: 4.3%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.greatwestlifeco.com) sells insurance, mutual funds and wealth management services. It has $1.2 trillion in assets under management. In the three months ended June 30, 2016, Great-West’s earnings rose 1.8%, to $671 million from $659 million a year earlier. Due to fewer shares outstanding, earnings per share gained 3.0%, to $0.68 from $0.66. Revenue soared 203.2%, to $12.8 billion from $4.2 billion, thanks to higher gains on its investment portfolio. The company continues to benefit from its European expansion, including its 2013 acquisition of Irish Life for $1.75 billion. That firm is the Republic’s largest pension manager and life insurance provider. Great-West also recently bought Ireland’s Aviva Health and increased its stake in GloHealth from 49% to 100%. Aviva and GloHealth have now merged to become one of the…