Back to top

Image: Bigstock

Sun Life (SLF) Expands Family Leave Insurance Product in Florida

Read MoreHide Full Article

Sun Life Financial Inc. (SLF - Free Report) recently announced the expansion of its Family Leave Insurance offering to Florida. SLF previously offered this insurance in Alabama, Arkansas, Tennessee and Texas. It aims to expand this offering into more states in the future. Family Leave Insurance helps employers to provide paid leaves to their employees, enhancing their benefits.

This move bodes well for Sun Life as it will improve its position in the leave insurance space and lead to improved premiums in the future. SLF, with this offering, is bridging an important gap for small-size and mid-size employers in the benefits space. Many large companies self-fund paid family leaves for their workforce, while small-size and mid-size firms may not be able to afford it. Hence, Family Leave Insurance comes to their rescue, enabling them to provide paid leaves and thereby attract and retain more employees.

This fully insured offering is built and designed on SLF’s extensive leave program knowledge and industry expertise. This move is also expected to improve employee health and productivity. Per WorldatWork, 80% of employers who provide paid personal illness time and family leave report a positive impact on employee retention. The new offering by SLF aligns with the current tax credit and should further align with more changes in the future. It also aids employers in states without government run programs for paid leaves.

Employees are expected to benefit from a hassle-free leave structure, which also adds to their benefits and SLF’s online claims submission. Employers will be able to leverage employee’s leave details and support their health and productivity. Thus, this move is a win-win situation for all the parties involved.

Zacks Rank & Price Performance

Sun Life currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Shares of SLF have gained 7.6% in the past three months compared with the industry’s rise of 6.6%.

Zacks Investment Research
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Stocks to Consider

Some better-ranked stocks in the insurance space are CNO Financial Group, Inc. (CNO - Free Report) , Erie Indemnity Company (ERIE - Free Report) and Assurant, Inc. (AIZ - Free Report) . CNO Financial sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), and Erie Indemnity and Assurant carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

CNO Financial’s earnings surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in two of the last four quarters and missed the mark twice, the average beat being 3.62%. The consensus estimate for CNO’s 2024 earnings suggests an improvement of 2.6% from the year-ago reported figure.

The consensus mark for CNO’s 2024 earnings has moved 4.3% north in the past 60 days.

Erie Indemnity’s earnings surpassed estimates in three of the last four quarters and missed the mark once, the average surprise being 11.24%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for ERIE’s 2024 earnings indicates an 18.3% rise, while the same for revenues suggests an improvement of 11.4% from the respective prior-year reported figures.

The consensus mark for ERIE’s 2024 earnings has moved 2.4% north in the past 30 days.

Assurant’s earnings outpaced estimates in each of the trailing four quarters, the average surprise being 42.15%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for AIZ’s 2024 earnings indicates a 3.4% rise, while the same for revenues suggests an improvement of 4.1% from the respective prior-year reported figures.

The consensus mark for AIZ’s 2024 earnings has moved up 1.4% in the past 30 days.

Published in