There are a lot of stocks on the TSX today that deserve investor attention. Practically every stock out there is trading down from 2022 highs, and that may not end anytime soon. However, there are few that really deserve your immediate attention. One of them is Sun Life Financial (TSX: SLF)(NYSE: SLF).
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It’s cheap
Sun Life stock is cheap right now in a number of ways. Sure, its shares are lower than they were earlier this year, down 17% year to date. But that mainly comes with the territory as an insurance, wealth management, and asset management firm. Yet in the case of Sun Life stock, it has plenty of cash on hand to cover its debts and keep up with dividend payments.
And the company is cheap in so many ways. Right now, Sun Life stock trades at a valuable 8.88 times earnings. It would take just 30% of its equity to cover its total debts. And as mentioned, it’s well below 52-week highs and currently trades below its 50-day moving average in share price.
Taking all this together, Sun Life stock is a strong company to consider. But it gets better.
Its dividend
Sun Life stock also boasts a strong, stable, and high dividend yield at 4.84%. That comes out to $2.76 per share annually. Plus, it’s been growing consistently. The cheap stock currently offers investors a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.72% as of writing.
And let’s put the cheap stock back into perspective here to. Let’s say you purchased $10,000 in Sun Life stock at its 52-week highs of $74 per share. That would have provided you with dividends of about $368 per year. Yet if you buy today, that same investment would fork over about $486! That’s a difference of $122 in your pocket each year, no questions asked.
Its growth
Now, here’s the big part. It’s all well and good to invest in a company while you can look forward to some near-term growth. But Motley Fool investors know that you should always be investing in a company that you’re willing to hold long term. In this case, Sun Life stock is still a great buy. It’s been around for decades, increasing its dividend but also growing and share price and its business ventures.
In the past 20 years, Sun Life stock has grown by 368%. That comes to a CAGR of 7.78% during that time. If we use this as a guideline, we can identify where some like stock might be in another 20 years based on the $10,000 investment. So, let’s look at that based on if you had purchased it at 52-week highs, or at today’s prices.
In the former case, a $10,000 with dividends reinvested could be worth $88,773 at those higher levels. But today, if you were to purchase at $10,000, I would take into consideration the downturn. If you purchased at $56 and saw it recover to $74, that would increase your shares to $13,759 alone. From there, let’s go back to historical performance. In another two decades, you could have a portfolio worth $122,309!
Bottom line
As the saying goes, it’s not about timing the market but about time in the market. However, with Sun Life stock you could lock into both right now. You can get a cheap stock price that could see shares rebound to 52-week highs in the next year. From there, you can look forward to strong future growth that could lead to an explosive portfolio.
