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Stocks from the financial services sector are often sort after for healthy returns. As the COVID-19 pandemic hits Canada with a third wave, many investors continue to seek financial stocks that come with a track record of good returns. Let’s take a glance at some key figures of four stocks from the financial services sector – Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSX:SLF), Galaxy Digital Holdings Ltd (TSX:GLXY), goeasy Ltd (TSX:GSY) and Firefax Financial Holdings Limited (TSX:FFH).
Sun Life Financial Inc (TSX:SLF)
Sun Life Financial, one of the top life insurances companies in Canada, has a diverse portfolio including insurance, wealth management and retirement services. About one-third of its profit comes from its asset management vertical.
Sun Life, with a market cap of over C$ 38 billion, has a price-to-book (P/B) ratio of 1.585, as per TMX. Sun Life stock has returned about nine per over the last three months.
©Kalkine Group 2021
The company recently announced the acquisition of Maryland-based medical opinion service provider, Pinnacle Care International. The purchase cost Sun Life about C$ 108 million, and this deal is expected to help it to improve diagnosis services and deliver holistic care experience.
Sun Life Financial reported a net income of C$ 744 million in Q4 2020. Annually, its net income was C$ 2,404 million in 2020, as compared to that of C$ 2,618 million in 2019.
Galaxy Digital Holdings Ltd (TSX:GLXY)
Galaxy Digital Holdings provides investment management related and other financial services, and presently posts a market cap of over C$3 billion on TMX.
Its stock recorded a 241 per cent growth in the last three months and a whopping 2,985 per cent in the last one year.
In December 2020, the company declared that its affiliate, Galaxy Digital Capital Management, will act as a sub-adviser to TSX-listed CI Galaxy Bitcoin Fund. In January 2021, Galaxy Digital Holdings launched a new unit, Galaxy Digital Mining, to offer financial services to bitcoin miners.
goeasy Ltd (TSX:GSY)
Alternative financial company goeasy Ltd holds a market cap of over C$2 billion and P/B ratio of 4.796, as per TMX. Its stock grew over 47 per cent in the last three months and nearly 49 per cent this year.
The company’s common shares were included in S&P/TSX Composite Index on March 22. Earlier this month, goeasy declared the acquisition of point-of-sale consumer financing company, LendCare. The acquisition cost goeasy C$ 320 million.
Firefax Financial Holdings Limited (TSX:FFH)
Firefax Financial operates in property and casualty insurance sector and provides investment management services to clients. Its market cap is over C$ 15 billion and its P/B ratio is 0.98, according to TMX data.
Firefax stock jumped by nearly 27 per cent in the last three months and by about 45 per cent over the past year.
Commonwealth Insurance Company of America, a part of Fairfax Financial subsidiary Brit Group, was acquired by an underwriting group, Accelerant Holdings, in March this year. Fairfax also sold RiverStone Europe to CVC Strategic Opportunities Fund II in December 2020 for about US$ 750 million. Fairfax concluded Senior Notes offering of US$ 600 million in March 2021.
Firefax Financial declared net earnings of over US$ 218.4 million in fiscal year 2020.
The above constitutes a preliminary view and any interest in stocks should be evaluated further from investment point of view.
