Sun Life Financial Q3 Earnings Surpass Estimates, Dividend Raised

Sun Life Financial Inc. SLF delivered a third-quarter 2025 underlying net income of $1.35 per share, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 3.8%. Moreover, the bottom line increased 4.6% year over year. 

The underlying net income was reported at $760.21 million (C$1,047 million), which increased 2.1% year over year. 

Wealth sales & asset management gross flows increased 46.8% year over year to $45.10 billion (C$62.12 billion) in the quarter under review. 

The new business contractual service margin was $323.83 million (C$446 million), up 15.3% year over year.

Segment Results

SLF Canada’s underlying net income increased 11.4% year over year to $306.41 million (C$422 million), driven by higher investment earnings, business growth, improved credit experience and higher fee income.

Underlying net income of SLF U.S. was $147 million, which decreased 33% year over year. The decrease was due to lower group benefits and dental results, offset by improved credit experience and higher investment earnings.

SLF Asset Management reported an underlying net income of $254 million (C$350 million), which grew 0.8% year over year. Asset Management witnessed higher net seed investment income and fee-related earnings.

SLF Asia reported an underlying net income of $164 million (C$226 million), which grew 31.6% year over year. Asia witnessed continued strong sales momentum and in-force business growth across markets, and higher contributions from India joint ventures, favorable mortality experience in International. It was offset by unfavorable credit experience

Financial Update   

Global assets under management were $1.17 trillion (C$1,623 billion), up 5.4% year over year.

Sun Life Assurance’s Life Insurance Capital Adequacy Test (LICAT) ratio was 138% as of Sept. 30, 2025, which contracted 900 basis points (bps).

The LICAT ratio for Sun Life (including cash and other liquid assets) was 154%, which expanded 200 bps year over year.

Sun Life’s return on equity was 19.3% in the third quarter, which contracted 450 bps year over year. The underlying return on equity of 18.3% expanded 40 bps year over year.

The leverage ratio of 21.6% deteriorated 120 bps year over year.

Dividend Update

In the reported quarter, the company’s board of directors increased its dividend by 4.5% to 92 cents per share.

Zacks Rank

Sun Life currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Performance of Other Insurers

American Financial Group, Inc. AFG reported third-quarter 2025 net operating earnings per share of $2.69, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 14.5%. The bottom line increased 16.4% year over year. The increase was due to higher year-over-year underwriting profit and higher net investment income. Total revenues of $2.2 billion decreased 1.4% year over year. The decline was due to lower P&C insurance net earned premiums. However, the top line beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 8.8%.

Net investment income climbed 2.5% year over year to $205 million in the quarter under review. The figure was higher than our estimate of $193.2 million and beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $191 million. Total cost and expenses decreased 3.6% year over year to $2.1 billion. The figure was higher than our estimate of $1.9 billion. 

NMI Holdings Inc. NMIH reported third-quarter 2025 operating net income per share of $1.21, which matched the Zacks Consensus Estimate. The bottom line increased 5.2% year over year. NMI Holdings’ total operating revenues of $179 million increased 7.8% year over year on higher net premiums earned (up 5.5%) and net investment income (up 19.1%). Revenues beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 2.3%.

Primary insurance in force increased 5.2% to $218.4 billion. Annual persistency was 83.9%, down 160 basis points (bps) year over year. New insurance written was $13 billion, up 6.4% year over year. Underwriting and operating expenses totaled $29.2 million, down 0.01% year over year. Insurance claims and claim expenses were $18.6 million, which surged 80.5% year over year. The loss ratio was 12.3, which deteriorated 510 bps.

CNA Financial Corporation CNA reported third-quarter 2025 core earnings of $1.50 per share, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 20%. The bottom line increased 39% year over year. Total operating revenues of CNA Financial were $3.4 billion, up 6.3% year over year. The top line missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 0.05%.

Net written premiums of Property & Casualty Operations increased 3.2% year over year to $2.4 billion, driven by P&C renewal premium change of more than 4% with a written rate of more than 3% and exposure change of more than 1%. Net investment income rose 2% year over year to $638 million. The Zacks Consensus Estimate and our estimate for net investment were both pegged at $690.5 million.

Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report

This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

Zacks Investment Research