Stock of the Day

November 11, 2019

MetLife (MET)

$101.16
+$0.89 (+0.9%)
Market Cap: $65.11B

About MetLife

MetLife, Inc., a financial services company, provides insurance, annuities, employee benefits, and asset management services worldwide. It operates through six segments: Retirement and Income Solutions; Group Benefits; Asia; Latin America; Europe, the Middle East and Africa; and MetLife Holdings. The company offers life, dental, group short-and long-term disability, individual disability, pet insurance, accidental death and dismemberment, vision, and accident and health coverages, as well as prepaid legal plans; administrative services-only arrangements to employers; and general and separate account, and synthetic guaranteed interest contracts, as well as private floating rate funding agreements. It also provides pension risk transfers, institutional income annuities, structured settlements, and capital markets investment products; and other products and services, such as life insurance products and funding agreements for funding postretirement benefits, as well as company, bank, or trust-owned life insurance used to finance nonqualified benefit programs for executives. In addition, it provides fixed, indexed-linked, and variable annuities; pension products; regular savings products; whole and term life, endowments, universal and variable life, and group life products; longevity reinsurance solutions; credit insurance products; and protection against long-term health care services. MetLife, Inc. was incorporated in 1999 and is based in New York, New York.

MetLife Bull Case

Here are some ways that investors could benefit from investing in MetLife, Inc.:

  • MetLife, Inc. recently hit a new 52-week high of $101.44, with the current stock price trading at $100.27, reflecting strong momentum and market confidence in the company's recent performance and strategic direction.
  • Analyst sentiment has turned increasingly positive, with JPMorgan Chase & Co. raising its price target to $110.00 and DOWLING & PARTN lifting its FY2026 earnings estimate to $10.30 per share, which is significantly above the consensus estimate of $9.88, suggesting potential for higher-than-expected profitability.
  • The company demonstrated strong earnings power in its most recent quarterly report, beating consensus estimates by $0.13 per share with an EPS of $2.43, while maintaining a robust return on equity of 23.39%, indicating efficient use of shareholder capital.
  • MetLife, Inc. has approved a $3.00 billion stock repurchase plan, which allows the company to buy back up to 4.8% of its shares, a move that often signals management believes the stock is undervalued and can support share price growth by reducing the number of outstanding shares.
  • With a dividend yield of 2.37% and a beta of 0.78, the stock offers a relatively stable income stream with lower volatility compared to the broader market, making it an attractive option for income-focused investors seeking defensive exposure.

MetLife Bear Case

Investors should be bearish about investing in MetLife, Inc. for these reasons:

  • Despite beating earnings estimates, MetLife, Inc. reported revenue of $13.52 billion in its latest quarter, which fell significantly short of the consensus estimate of $19.67 billion, raising concerns about the sustainability of its top-line growth and revenue generation capabilities.
  • The company's current ratio and quick ratio are both at 0.20, indicating that it has significantly more current liabilities than current assets, which could pose liquidity challenges in the event of unexpected financial pressures or market downturns.
  • MetLife, Inc. carries a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, meaning it relies on a moderate level of debt to finance its operations, which could increase financial risk if interest rates rise or if the company's earnings decline, potentially impacting its ability to service debt.
  • While the stock has risen to new highs, it is trading near its 52-week high of $101.44, which may limit near-term upside potential and increase the risk of a pullback if market sentiment shifts or if the company fails to meet elevated analyst expectations.
  • The company's revenue growth of 10.5% year-over-year, while positive, may not be sufficient to offset the significant gap between actual and consensus revenue estimates, suggesting that the market's expectations for revenue growth may be overly optimistic and could lead to disappointment in future quarters.
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