Genworth Financial Inc Stock Upgraded (GNW)

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Genworth Financial (NYSE:GNW) has been upgraded by TheStreet Ratings from sell to hold. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its revenue growth, increase in net income and attractive valuation levels. However, as a counter to these strengths, we also find weaknesses including disappointing return on equity, a generally disappointing performance in the stock itself and poor profit margins.

Highlights from the ratings report include:

• GNW's revenue growth has slightly outpaced the industry average of 7.0%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues slightly increased by 0.7%. Growth in the company's revenue appears to have helped boost the earnings per share.
• GENWORTH FINANCIAL INC reported significant earnings per share improvement in the most recent quarter compared to the same quarter a year ago. This company has reported somewhat volatile earnings recently. But, we feel it is poised for EPS growth in the coming year. During the past fiscal year, GENWORTH FINANCIAL INC reported lower earnings of $0.25 versus $0.28 in the prior year. This year, the market expects an improvement in earnings ($1.30 versus $0.25).
• GNW's stock share price has done very poorly compared to where it was a year ago: Despite any rallies, the net result is that it is down by 37.00%, which is also worse that the performance of the S&P 500 Index. Investors have so far failed to pay much attention to the earnings improvements the company has managed to achieve over the last quarter. Naturally, the overall market trend is bound to be a significant factor. However, in one sense, the stock's sharp decline last year is a positive for future investors, making it cheaper (in proportion to its earnings over the past year) than most other stocks in its industry. But due to other concerns, we feel the stock is still not a good buy right now.
• The company's current return on equity has slightly decreased from the same quarter one year prior. This implies a minor weakness in the organization. Compared to other companies in the Insurance industry and the overall market on the basis of return on equity, GENWORTH FINANCIAL INC underperformed against that of the industry average and is significantly less than that of the S&P 500.

Genworth Financial, Inc., a financial security company, provides insurance, wealth management, investment, and financial solutions in the United States and internationally. The company operates in three segments: Retirement and Protection, International, and U.S. Mortgage Insurance. The company has a P/E ratio of 71.9, above the S&P 500 P/E ratio of 17.7. Genworth Financial has a market cap of $4.05 billion and is part of the financial sector and insurance industry. Shares are up 22.7% year to date as of the close of trading on Friday.

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