Based on key financial metrics such as the price-to-sales ratio, shareholder yield and the price-earnings ratio, the following 3 stocks made the list for top value stocks in the Insurance - Life & Health industry. Those looking for value stocks to add to their portfolio may want to use this list as a starting point for further investment research.
Latest Insurance - Life & Health Stock News
Before choosing which top Insurance - Life & Health stock to buy, be sure to conduct proper due diligence: analyze various financial metrics and look at historical data, public statements and news coverage.
The fundamental outlook on the life & health insurance industry is neutral. While interest rates have risen, they still remain below long-term historical averages, making asset/liability management challenging for this group (given the long-term nature of many of its policyholder obligations). Offsetting this trend is the recovery of the global economy in the aftermath of COVID-19. Longer-term, there are some positive demographic trends, including an aging population’s need to save for retirement and the coming of age of millennials. Against this very mixed backdrop, we think the insurance industry is at an inflection point, with many industry participants rationalizing their businesses by revamping products, raising prices (where possible), and exiting high-risk or non-strategic businesses. While we applaud this strategy, we think this revamping injects a degree of execution risk into the life insurance industry, as not every firm may be able to successfully complete such a strategy. Moreover, a flood of non-strategic assets coming to market, some from distressed sellers, will likely dampen the value of those assets.
Why Focus on Undervalued Insurance - Life & Health Stocks?
Value investors seek to buy stocks at a discount to their intrinsic value. Long-term returns show that such strategies are advantageous. Value stocks, as a group, tend to outperform growth stocks over extended periods of time. Typically, value investors perform financial analysis of numerous metrics, don’t follow the herd and are long-term investors.
AAII’s A+ Investor Value Grade is derived from a stock’s Value Score. The Value Score is the percentile rank of the average of the percentile ranks of the price-to-sales ratio, price-earnings ratio, enterprise-value-to-EBITDA (EV/EBITDA) ratio, shareholder yield, price-to-book-value ratio and price-to-free-cash-flow ratio. The score is variable, meaning it can consider all six ratios or, should any of the six ratios not be valid, the remaining ratios that are valid. To be assigned a Value Score, stocks must have a valid (non-null) ratio and corresponding ranking for at least two of the six valuation ratios.
What Goes Into AAII’s Value Grade?
Stock evaluation requires access to huge amounts of data as well as the knowledge and time to sift through it all, make sense of financial ratios, read income statements and analyze recent stock movement. AAII created A+ Investor, a robust data suite that condenses data research in an actionable and customizable way suitable for investors of all knowledge levels, to help investors with that task.
AAII’s proprietary stock grades come with A+ Investor. These offer intuitive A–F grades for more than just value. It is possible for a stock to appear cheap based on one valuation metric but appear expensive on another. It is also possible for one valuation ratio to be associated with outperforming stocks during certain periods of time but not others. Some stocks may even have null values for certain metrics like the price-earnings ratio or the price-to-book ratio but not others. An example of this would be a company with losses instead of profits or a negative book value because of heavy borrowing. Negative earnings or book value result in non-meaningful ratios that are left blank or null.
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3 Undervalued Insurance - Life & Health Stocks
Of course, there are countless value stocks that are worth mentioning, but this is a concise list of the top 3 undervalued stocks in the Insurance - Life & Health industry for Tuesday, June 27, 2023. Let’s take a closer look at their individual scores to see how they measure up against each other and the Insurance - Life & Health industry median.
| Company | Ticker | Price/Sales | Price/Earnings | EV/EBITDA | Shareholder Yield | Price/Book Value | Price/Free Cash Flow | Value Grade |
| AEGON N.V. (ADR) | AEG | na | na | 33.8 | 9.4% | 0.67 | 3.3 | A |
| AFLAC Incorporated | AFL | 2.17 | 9.8 | 6.1 | 8.4% | 2.09 | 18.0 | B |
| Sun Life Financial Inc | SLF | 0.99 | 13.6 | 3.6 | 4.1% | 1.88 | na | B |
The Value Grade is assigned based on how each stock’s composite valuation compares to all other stocks.
The process for assigning grades starts with each variable for a given stock. The percentile rankings for all valid ratios that a stock has are calculated. So, for instance, a stock could have a price-to-book ranking in the 43rd percentile, a price-earnings ranking in the 67th percentile, a price-to-sales ranking in the 23rd percentile, etc. Then, those rankings are averaged for each stock. (A minimum of two valid variables are required, though all six will be used if available.)
Once the average of the individual variables is calculated, that average is ranked against all stocks. Put another way, each stock’s composite valuation is compared to all other stocks. These ranks are then sorted into quintiles from the cheapest 20% (a grade of A) to the most expensive 20% (a grade of F).
As always, we recommend that you conduct proper due diligence and research before investing in any security. We also suggest that investors utilize numerous grades, not just value, when it comes to deciding whether a company is a good fit for their allocation needs.
AEGON N.V. (ADR)’s Value Grade
Value Grade:
| Metric | Score | AEG | Industry Median |
| Price/Sales | na | na | 0.76 |
| Price/Earnings | na | na | 11.7 |
| EV/EBITDA | 90 | 33.8 | 6.3 |
| Shareholder Yield | 9 | 9.4% | 4.1% |
| Price/Book Value | 16 | 0.67 | 1.30 |
| Price/Free Cash Flow | 9 | 3.3 | 5.2 |
Aegon N.V. (Aegon) is an international life insurance, pensions and asset management company. The Company's segments include the Americas, which includes the United States, Mexico and Brazil; the Netherlands; the United Kingdom; Central & Eastern Europe; Spain & Portugal; Asia, and Aegon Asset Management. It offers protection against mortality, morbidity and longevity risks, including traditional and universal life. It offers products with mortality, morbidity, and longevity risks, including traditional and universal life; mortgages; annuity products, and banking products. It offers individual protection products, such as annuities, term insurance, income protection and international/offshore bonds. It has activities in Hungary, Poland, Romania and Turkey. It offers life insurance marketed to high-net-worth individuals in Hong Kong and Singapore. It also offers investment products covering third-party customers, insurance-linked solutions.
Stocks with a Value Score from 81 to 100 are considered deep value, those with a score between 61 and 80 are value and so on.
AEGON N.V. (ADR) has a Value Score of 81, which is considered to be undervalued.
Now, let’s assess AEGON N.V. (ADR)’s EV/EBITDA ratio, also known as enterprise multiple. At 33.8, when compared to the industry median of 6.3, the company may be considered overvalued in relation to its peers. Value investors could use the enterprise multiple to identify stocks that are considered overvalued or undervalued relative to their industry.
Shareholder yield is the sum of a stock’s dividend yield (paid over previous 12 months minus special dividends) and the percentage of net share buybacks over the previous 12 months. AEGON N.V. (ADR)’s shareholder yield is higher than its industry median ratio of 4.14%. Value investors may look for an attractive shareholder yield because it can be a powerful tool for identifying if the company has a good management team.
As one of the most common value metrics, the price-to-book ratio evaluates a company’s current market price relative to its book value. AEGON N.V. (ADR)’s price-to-book ratio is lower than its industry median ratio of 1.30. This could make AEGON N.V. (ADR) more attractive to investors looking for a new addition to their portfolio.
Lastly, let’s take a look at AEGON N.V. (ADR)’s price-to-free-cash-flow ratio (P/FCF), which can indicate a company’s market value relative to its operating cash flow. AEGON N.V. (ADR)’s price-to-free-cash-flow ratio is lower than its industry median ratio of 5.24. This could make AEGON N.V. (ADR) more attractive because the lower P/FCF ratio indicates that AEGON N.V. (ADR) is undervalued. The P/FCF ratio metric can also be viewed over a long-term time frame to see if the company's cash flow to share price value is generally improving or worsening.
AFLAC Incorporated’s Value Grade
Value Grade:
| Metric | Score | AFL | Industry Median |
| Price/Sales | 58 | 2.17 | 0.76 |
| Price/Earnings | 31 | 9.8 | 11.7 |
| EV/EBITDA | 29 | 6.1 | 6.3 |
| Shareholder Yield | 11 | 8.4% | 4.1% |
| Price/Book Value | 60 | 2.09 | 1.30 |
| Price/Free Cash Flow | 54 | 18.0 | 5.2 |
Aflac Incorporated is engaged in supplemental health and life insurance company. Its insurance business is marketed and administered through American Family Life Assurance Company of Columbus (Aflac) in the United States and through Aflac Life Insurance Japan Ltd. (ALIJ) in Japan. Its segments include Aflac Japan and Aflac U.S. Aflac Japan is designed to help consumers pay for medical and non-medical costs that are not reimbursed under Japan's national health insurance system. Its insurance products include cancer, medical and income support insurance, nursing care insurance, work leave insurance, whole life, GIFT and WAYS and child endowment. It designs its United States insurance products to provide supplemental coverage for people having medical or primary insurance coverage. Aflac U.S. products are distributed in the individual and group supplemental insurance markets. It also offers insurance products, such as accident insurance, disability insurance, cancer insurance and others.
Stocks with a Value Score from 81 to 100 are considered deep value, those with a score between 61 and 80 are value and so on.
AFLAC Incorporated has a Value Score of 65, which is considered to be undervalued.
AFLAC Incorporated’s price-earnings ratio is 9.8 compared to the industry median at 11.7. This means that it has a lower price relative to its earnings compared to its peers. This makes AFLAC Incorporated more attractive for value investors.
AFLAC Incorporated’s price-to-book ratio is lower than its peers. This could make AFLAC Incorporated more attractive for value investors when compared to the industry median at 1.30.
You can read more about AFLAC Incorporated’s key financial metrics like shareholder yield, price-to-free-cash-flow and EV/EBITDA ratio, or learn more about its Momentum and Growth Grades, by subscribing to A+ Investor.
Sun Life Financial Inc’s Value Grade
Value Grade:
| Metric | Score | SLF | Industry Median |
| Price/Sales | 35 | 0.99 | 0.76 |
| Price/Earnings | 42 | 13.6 | 11.7 |
| EV/EBITDA | 13 | 3.6 | 6.3 |
| Shareholder Yield | 23 | 4.1% | 4.1% |
| Price/Book Value | 56 | 1.88 | 1.30 |
| Price/Free Cash Flow | na | na | 5.2 |
Sun Life Financial Inc. is a Canada-based financial services company that provides a diverse range of insurance, wealth and asset management solutions. The Company's segments include Canada, United States (U.S.), Asset Management, Asia and Corporate. The Canada segment provides protection, health, and wealth solutions. The U.S. segment provides group benefits such as group insurance products and services in the United States market. The Asset Management segment comprises of MFS and SLC Management. MFS is an asset management firm, which offers selection of financial products and services. SLC Management is an institutional investment management business that delivers liability driven investing, alternative fixed income, infrastructure and real estate solutions. The Asia segment consists of two business units: Local Markets and International Hubs. Local Markets provides life, health, wealth and asset management solutions. The Company also provides U.S. Medicaid dental benefits.
Stocks with a Value Score from 81 to 100 are considered deep value, those with a score between 61 and 80 are value and so on.
Sun Life Financial Inc has a Value Score of 76, which is considered to be undervalued.
Sun Life Financial Inc’s price-earnings ratio is 13.6 compared to the industry median at 11.7. This means that it has a higher price relative to its earnings compared to its peers. This makes Sun Life Financial Inc less attractive for value investors.
Sun Life Financial Inc’s price-to-book ratio is lower than its peers. This could make Sun Life Financial Inc more attractive for value investors when compared to the industry median at 1.30.
You can read more about Sun Life Financial Inc’s key financial metrics like shareholder yield, price-to-free-cash-flow and EV/EBITDA ratio, or learn more about its Momentum and Growth Grades, by subscribing to A+ Investor.
Other Insurance - Life & Health Stock Grades
Value is just one of the five Stock Grades included in our A+ Investor service. AAII members can see the top-graded stocks—those with grades of A or B for value, growth, momentum, earnings estimate revisions and quality—on the A+ Stock Grades Screener.
Also, if you want full access to all of AAII’s premium services, you can subscribe to one convenient bundled plan called AAII Platinum where you can try out A+ Investor, AAII Dividend Investing, the Stock Superstars Report, Growth Investing and VMQ Stocks. With the other premium services, you can dive deep into additional metrics, portfolios, commentary and information about Insurance - Life & Health stocks as well as other industrys.
Choosing Which of the 3 Best Insurance - Life & Health Stocks Is Right for You
Choosing which value stocks to invest in will ultimately depend on your individual goals and allocation; however, comparing similar value stocks in the same industry can help you analyze which might be better investments for you in the long run. So, let’s take a look at the Value Grade for all of our stocks.
- AEGON N.V. (ADR) stock has a Value Grade of A.
- AFLAC Incorporated stock has a Value Grade of B.
- Sun Life Financial Inc stock has a Value Grade of B.
Now that you have a bit more background about each of the 3 undervalued stocks in the Insurance - Life & Health industry as well as their overall grades, it’s time for you to conduct additional research to see if these could fit your portfolio needs based on your goals and risk tolerance. AAII can help you figure out both and identify which investments align with what works best for you.
We do so through a program of education that teaches you to invest for yourself and become an effective manager of your own wealth—no more relying on others for your financial independence. You can rely on AAII for timeless articles on financial planning and stock-picking, unbiased research and actionable analysis that makes you a better investor.
A+ Investor adds to that qualitative teaching by giving you a powerful data suite that helps you whittle down investment decisions to find stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) or mutual funds that meet your needs.
Additional Resources About Insurance - Life & Health Stocks
Want to learn more about Insurance - Life & Health stocks to see if they could be the right investment for you? Check out some additional resources and articles to help you on your financial journey.
- 3 Undervalued Insurance - Life & Health Stocks for Tuesday, June 27
- 4 Undervalued Insurance - Life & Health Stocks for Monday, June 26
- Why American Equity Investment Life Holding’s (AEL) Stock Is Up 10.89%
- 3 Undervalued Insurance - Life & Health Stocks for Friday, June 23
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