Manulife Financial’s Q4 core earnings rise to $685 million but miss estimates

TORONTO – Manulife Financial Corp. (TSX:MFC) says it had $685 million of core earnings in the fourth quarter, up nearly 24 per cent from a year earlier but short of analyst estimates.

The Toronto-based life insurance and wealth management company said its core earnings were equal to 35 cents per share, up from 28 cents or $554 million in the comparable quarter of 2012.

Manulife also reported $1.3 billion of net income attributable to shareholders, up 20 per cent from a year earlier — a bigger increase than analyst estimates

The net income amounted to 68 cents per common share, up from 57 cents per share or $1.08 billion or 57 cents per share in the fourth quarter of 2012.

Manulife’s core earnings were three cents below analyst estimates of 38 cents per share while net income was 25 cents above the estimate of 43 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters data.