TORONTO -- Manulife Financial Corp. (TSX:MFC) has released a mixed fourth-quarter financial report, beating analyst estimates on some fronts and missing them on others.
Manulife's net profit soared to $1.06 billion in the fourth quarter, more than double the analyst expectations.
However, Manulife's core earnings were disappointing at $537 million or 28 cents per share during the quarter, four cents below the consensus estimate.
By both measures, Manulife's profit was up from the fourth quarter of 2011 when it had $373 million of core earnings and a $69 million net loss.
Manulife's revenue performance was similarly mixed, with its premium income up nearly $500 million from a year before to $5.01 billion but all-in revenue, including investment and other items, down at just under $7.2 billion.
That was $2.5 billion below analyst estimates, which were in line with the $9.7 billion of total revenue that Manulife reported for the fourth quarter of 2011.
The most recent quarter total revenue included a $1.6 billion negative item related to its investment contract liabilities, a $2.96 billion turn from the $1.36 billion positive item reported a year before.
