Q: Sunlife seems to have had a bad past 30 days, maybe worse than the overall market? It has had a great run since 2012, but when you look back to 2007 “yikes”. I know there was the big financial crisis, but it looks like the share price was cut by 2/3? Can you provide some colour commentary? Thanks.
5i Research Answer:
SLF pays a 4.4% dividend yield, and so a lot of its performance can be tied to its annual dividend yield. Even with the rapid decline of 2008, over the past 20 years, it has a total annualized return of 7.8% and 11% over the past 10 years. The global financial crisis of 2008 impacted many companies, particularly financial names, and certain banks were on the brink of extinction. Liquidity dried up completely in the wake of 2008, and that is an event that may only happen once in certain individuals' lifetimes.
Needless to say, SLF's recent price action is completely normal and tied to the broader markets. We continue to like the name here.