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We are upgrading our recommendation on the shares of shares of Manulife Financial Corp. ( MFC ) to Outperform from Neutral following the recent announcement by the company to expand into Korea, which marks an expansion in its key Asian market. The company has also set up a head office in Cambodia. We believe further penetration in Asian markets will fuel long-term earnings growth for the company.

Manulife has achieved a great deal in reducing its exposures to potential equity markets as well as interest rates risk. It has also reduced its exposure towards interest sensitive products.

Our six-month target price of $15.00 equates to about 39.5x our earnings estimate for 2012. We view the $0.52 per common share annual dividend as secure, implying an expected total return of about 25.0% over that period. This is consistent with our Outperform recommendation on the shares.
 
MANULIFE FINL (MFC): Free Stock Analysis Report
 
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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc.

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