With the S&P/ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) down around 3% since the beginning of calendar year 2016, investors are obviously faced with a difficult environment.
One of the primary causes of the negative market returns so far this year has been the weak performance of stocks across the financial sector.
This weak performance has been led by the four major banks that are all down around 15%. While these falls have tempted some investors to buy bank shares, given the outlook for the banking sector and the complicated task of assessing the banks' underlying businesses they are arguably best avoided by many investors.
Amongst the wider financial service sector stocks there could be attractive investment opportunities however…
Two stocks which could deserve a place on your watch list are AMP Limited (ASX: AMP) and Platinum Asset Management Limited (ASX: PTM) which are down 10.5% and 26% respectively.
…but are they cheap enough to buy?
According to data supplied by CommSec, AMP is trading on a forecast price-to-earnings (PE) multiple of 13 times. AMP is a slightly tricky company to value due to its insurance operations which generally trade at a lower multiple compared with wealth managers.
For example, insurance peers such as Insurance Australia Group Ltd (ASX: IAG) and QBE Insurance Group Ltd (ASX: QBE) also have forward PEs of roughly 13 to 14 times. In contrast, a large wealth firm such as BT Investment Management Ltd (ASX: BTT) is trading on a forecast multiple approaching 15 times.
Meanwhile, Platinum is trading on a forecast PE multiple of 15 times. This compares with peers such as Magellan Financial Group Ltd (ASX: MFG) on 19 times (source: Reuters).
While Platinum's multiple could at first glance appear tempting it's important to consider the "key man risk" associated with the stock. Founder Kerr Nielson is a major asset of the business and despite having built up a depth of talent in the firm it remains unknown what his eventual departure from portfolio management could mean for the funds under management (FUM) of Platinum.
