Voya Financial

Voya's retirement arm is the engine, and it is running well. The company pulled in 28 billion dollars of new money into workplace retirement plans last year, its best haul in five years, and the OneAmerica deal added another 60 billion dollars in assets. That money arrives automatically through payroll, so it keeps coming whether markets are up or down.

Voya generated about 775 million dollars of spare cash and earns roughly 18 to 19 percent on shareholder money, which is strong for a financial company. Yet the stock trades under 8 times forward earnings. Management is returning that cash through 300 million dollars of buybacks and a dividend near 2.5 percent.

The employee benefits unit, which sells workplace health coverage, is unpredictable. It recently swung to roughly a 10 million dollar operating loss after Voya set aside an extra 37 million dollars for surprise medical claims. Those swings make earnings lumpy quarter to quarter and have kept the stock stuck in a range.

This is a steady business, not a fast one. Revenue grew just 1.2 percent and profit margins sit near 8 percent, which is slim for a financial company. Voya also raised insurance prices 24 percent to protect profit, and some customers are walking, so premiums in that unit are shrinking.