SLF vs MET Stock Comparison

Sun Life Financial and Metlife Prices as of Oct 26, 2026 Peers: Industry group
SLF Sun Life Financial Inc
$79.49 -0.5% 1M +29.5% 1Y
Market cap
$44.02B
P/E
18.7x
Revenue (TTM)
—
Div. yield
4.73%
Life Insurance Financial Services
4 wins
MET Metlife Inc
$100.05 +2.4% 1M +27.2% 1Y
Market cap
$63.81B
P/E
18.7x
Revenue (TTM)
$79.40B
Div. yield
2.31%
Life Insurance Financial Services
5 wins

Head to Head

9 decided of 12

Metlife leads on 5 of the 12 questions below (Metlife 5, Sun Life Financial 4). Which ones matter depends on what you are buying for; a cheap multiple and slow growth often come together.

QuestionSLFMETLeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $44.02B $63.81B MET
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only 18.7x 18.7x MET
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS 13.1x 10.2x MET
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months — +8.7% –
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months — 4.3% –
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital 12.7% -101.9% SLF
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA — — –
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield 4.73% 2.31% SLF
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months +29.5% +27.2% SLF
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years +6.7%/yr +9.3%/yr MET
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 18.6% 24.0% SLF
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers 33/100 40/100 MET

Percentile Scorecard

SLFMET

Each axis is the mean percentile of its metrics against the company's industry group. 100 is the best in the group, 50 the middle.

Scores by Axis

AxisSLFMET
Valuation 13 #36 of 41 48 #22 of 41
Growth 31 #28 of 40 26 #30 of 40
Profitability 51 #20 of 40 13 #35 of 40
Financial Health 29 #30 of 42 66 #15 of 42
Shareholder Returns 41 #24 of 40 46 #22 of 40
Overall 33 40
  • SLF ranked among 46 companies in Insurance
  • MET ranked among 46 companies in Insurance

Price Performance

Price return, split-adjusted, before dividends. Click a name to hide or show it.

Returns

PeriodSLFMETSPY
1 month -0.5%+2.4% -0.8%
3 months -4.2%+5.1% +3.5%
6 months +12.4%+28.8% +7.0%
Year to date +27.4%+26.7% +12.2%
1 year +29.5%+27.2% +13.0%
3 years +77.7%+71.6% +86.3%
3 years, per year +21.1%+19.7% +23.1%
5 years +38.4%+55.6% +68.6%
5 years, per year +6.7%+9.3% +11.0%
10 years +137.6%+139.4% +258.0%
10 years, per year +9.0%+9.1% +13.6%

Risk

MeasureSLFMETSPY
Volatility, 1Y 18.6%24.0% 12.7%
Downside volatility, 1Y 20.0%24.3% 12.7%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y 0.370.64 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y 1.591.13 1.02
Max drawdown, 5Y -33.0%-36.2% -25.4%
From 52-week high -5.4%-3.4% -1.8%
52-week high $84.07$103.55 $779.14
52-week low $57.60$67.70 $631.97

Valuation History

Weekly multiples on trailing twelve-month fundamentals. Negative or extreme readings (a loss year, a collapsed denominator) are left out so the chart stays readable.

MultipleSLFMET
P/E now vs peer median 18.7xmedian 10.0x 18.7xmedian 10.0x
P/S now vs peer median —median 1.1x 0.8xmedian 1.1x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median —median 4.5x —median 4.5x
P/FCF now vs peer median 13.4xmedian 8.9x 4.3xmedian 8.9x
P/B now vs peer median 2.3xmedian 1.2x 2.3xmedian 1.2x
PEG now vs peer median 7.13median 0.71 1.77median 0.71

Financial History

Reported figures by fiscal period, placed on the calendar year (or quarter) each period ended in, so companies with different fiscal years line up.

Trailing twelve monthsSLFMET
Revenue – $79.40B
Gross profit – $29.06B
Operating income – -$45.48B
Net income $2.57B $3.66B
Free cash flow $3.28B $14.81B
EPS (diluted) $4.23 $5.32
Cash & equivalents – $19.30B
Total debt $6.42B $5.89B
Shares (diluted) 566.00M 646.90M
Enterprise value $2.12B -$42.67B

All Metrics

58 metrics · best in bold

Bold marks the best reading: the lowest positive value for multiples, leverage and payout, the highest for everything else. The bar under each value is its percentile against that company's own peers. Hover a value for its rank and the peer median.

Valuation

12 metrics
MetricSLFMET
P/E 18.7x 18.7x
P/FCF 13.4x 4.3x
P/Operating cash flow 13.0x 4.1x
P/S – 0.8x
P/B 2.3x 2.3x
P/Tangible book 2.9x 2.3x
EV/EBITDA – –
EV/EBIT 9.8x -0.9x
EV/Revenue – 0.5x
EV/FCF 12.1x 2.9x
EV/Operating cash flow 11.7x 2.7x
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) 7.13 1.77

Growth

14 metrics
MetricSLFMET
Revenue growth (1Y) – 8.7%
Revenue CAGR (3Y) – 4.3%
Gross profit growth (1Y) – 6.5%
Gross profit CAGR (3Y) – 10.6%
Operating income growth (1Y) – -13.6%
Operating income CAGR (3Y) – -0.9%
Net income growth (1Y) 4.7% -14.9%
Net income CAGR (3Y) 6.5% 4.1%
EPS growth (1Y) 4.1% -12.2%
EPS CAGR (3Y) 2.6% 10.5%
Operating cash flow growth (1Y) 8.5% 2.2%
Operating cash flow CAGR (3Y) 13.0% 10.0%
Free cash flow growth (1Y) 8.6% 2.0%
Free cash flow CAGR (3Y) 9.5% 12.1%

Profitability

14 metrics
MetricSLFMET
Gross margin – 36.6%
EBITDA margin – –
Operating margin – -57.3%
Pretax margin – 6.1%
Net margin – 4.3%
FCF margin – 18.7%
Operating cash flow margin – 19.6%
Return on equity 13.9% 13.2%
Return on assets 0.9% 0.5%
Return on invested capital 12.7% -101.9%
Return on capital employed – –
Asset turnover – 0.1x
Cash conversion (OCF / net income) 1.3x 4.3x
Stock comp / revenue – –

Financial Health

11 metrics
MetricSLFMET
Debt / assets 2.1% 0.8%
Debt / equity 0.3x 0.2x
Net debt / EBITDA – –
Debt / FCF 2.0x 0.4x
Liabilities / assets 93.7% 96.3%
Equity / assets 6.3% 3.7%
Interest coverage 5.6x -4.7x
Current ratio – –
Quick ratio – –
Cash ratio – –
Altman Z-score – –

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricSLFMET
Dividend yield 4.7% 2.3%
Net buyback yield -0.1% 3.8%
Shareholder yield 4.6% 6.1%
Payout ratio (earnings) – 41.2%
Payout ratio (FCF) – 10.2%
Dividend growth (1Y) – -0.6%
Dividend CAGR (3Y) – -1.6%

Analyst Estimates

Solid lines are reported fiscal-year results; dashed lines are the consensus for the years ahead. Hover a year for the analysts' high and low, and how each result compared with its estimate.

ConsensusSLFMET
Forward P/E 13.1xFY2026 10.2xFY2026
EPS, next fiscal year $6.05FY2026 $9.85FY2026
EPS growth, next FY +11.4%FY2026 +11.6%FY2026
EPS growth, the year after -3.3% +7.9%
Revenue, next fiscal year $6.15BFY2026 $83.04BFY2026
Revenue growth, next FY -4.4%FY2026 +7.7%FY2026
Revenue growth, the year after +29.0% -2.5%

Institutional Ownership

13F filings, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026
HoldersSLFMET
Held by institutions 44.7% 75.7%
Institutions holding 490 1,442
Change in shares held, QoQ +1.3% +0.7%
Institutions buying 256 723
Institutions selling 130 483
Buyers to sellers 1.97 1.50

Return Correlation

Daily returns, last 12 months

1.00 means two stocks move in lockstep, 0 that they move independently. Pairs below about 0.5 diversify each other.

SLFMET
SLF 1.00 0.43
MET 0.43 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

Related Comparisons

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, SLF and MET?

Metlife (MET) is the largest by market capitalisation: Sun Life Financial (SLF) $44.02B, Metlife (MET) $63.81B.

Which stock is cheaper, SLF and MET?

Metlife (MET) trades on the lowest price-to-earnings ratio (Sun Life Financial (SLF) 18.7x, Metlife (MET) 18.7x). On next year's consensus earnings, Metlife (MET) is cheapest (Sun Life Financial (SLF) 13.1x, Metlife (MET) 10.2x). A lower multiple can reflect slower expected growth, so read it next to the growth figures.

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year Sun Life Financial (SLF) returned the most: Sun Life Financial (SLF) +29.5%, Metlife (MET) +27.2%. Over five years, Metlife (MET) compounded fastest (Sun Life Financial (SLF) +6.7%/yr, Metlife (MET) +9.3%/yr). Returns are price only, before dividends.

Which pays a higher dividend?

Sun Life Financial (SLF) has the highest dividend yield: Sun Life Financial (SLF) 4.73%, Metlife (MET) 2.31%.

Which stock is riskier?

By one-year price volatility, Sun Life Financial (SLF) has been the steadiest (Sun Life Financial (SLF) 18.6%, Metlife (MET) 24.0%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

Do SLF and MET move together?

Their daily returns over the past year have a correlation of 0.43, a moderate positive relationship. Holding both diversifies more than two closely linked stocks would.

Which is the better stock, SLF and MET?

There is no single answer; it depends on what you are buying for. On the 12 head-to-head measures on this page, Metlife (MET) leads on 5. Business Quant does not give investment advice; use the comparison as a starting point for your own research.

Data from SEC filings, exchange prices and consensus estimates, via Business Quant. Percentile scores compare each company with its own peer group, so two companies' scores are each relative to different peers unless you rank against the whole market. Price returns exclude dividends. Nothing on this page is investment advice.