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Progressive Corp., based in Mayfield Village, Ohio, is a leading property & casualty insurance company. The company sells insurance through independent agencies and its own direct-sales website. The shares are included in the S&P 500 index.

Dour signals in the pre-market, when futures were universally lower, faded quickly once stock indices opened on Thursday. As of this writing, the DJIA, the S&P 500, the Nasdaq Composite, and the Russell 2000 are all in the green. Blue-chip stocks such as Home Depot (HD) and Caterpillar (CAT) are leading the markets. Elsewhere, weekly unemployment claims data from DOL add to the argument that the employment environment is slowing a bit. The latest claims total jumped 22,000 to 231,000, which was the highest level since last August. Still, the average number of weekly claims over the past decade is 375,000. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note is steady at 4.5%, despite the unemployment claims data. Bond traders are leery, having been burned by inflation reports (due next week) in recent months. Bitcoin is down 1% today, while gold and oil prices are ticking higher.

Manulife Financial provides life insurance, annuities, and asset management products to individuals and group customers in Canada, the United States, and Asia. Its investment management business contributes approximately 20% of its earnings and has around CAD 1.05 trillion in assets under management and administration as of the end of 2023. The US business, which primarily operates under the John Hancock brand, contributes about 27% of earnings and is mainly focused on providing insurance products for estate, business, and income protection. The Asia segment provides insurance products and insurance-based wealth accumulation products in over 11 countries and contributes around 30% of earnings. The Canadian business segment contributes approximately 23% of earnings.

Each month, we take a close look at an aspect of sector investing. This month, we are examining growth and valuation. Investors hunting for stocks that reasonably balance long-term growth prospects and current value characteristics might want to look at companies in the Financial, Communication Services, and Healthcare sectors. These are among the industry groups that are currently selling for PEGY ratios -- (price/earnings)/(growth+yield) -- at or below the S&P 500's ratio of 2.4. To generate the PEGY ratios, we use the P/E ratio for each sector based on forward earnings for the numerator. For the denominator, we average the growth rates for the past five years along with two years of forward estimates, this in order to achieve a less-volatile trend of earnings growth. Then we add the current yield to approximate total return. As an example, the current S&P 500 P/E ratio is 21, the current yield is 1.6%, and the forecast five-year growth rate is 7.1%. The formula is 20/(1.6+7.1) = 2.4. Sectors with favorable growth and valuation characteristics, in addition to the three listed above, include Energy, Real Estate, and Utilities. Premium-valued sectors with low growth rates include Consumer Staples and Materials. Based on our analysis of growth rates and valuations, along with other factors, we have established our current over-weight sectors as Technology, Financial, Healthcare, and Communication Services. Our under-weight sectors are Energy, Materials and Consumer Staples. Our Market-Weight sectors are Consumer Discretionary, Utilities, Real Estate, and Industrial.