NEW YORK (TheStreet) --Shares of Genworth Financial Inc. are up by 1.62% to $7.86 in mid-morning trading on Monday, following a Sky News report suggesting the struggling insurance company is in talks with private equity firm JC Flowers regarding the sale of the company's lifestyle protection unit. JC Flowers is believed to be one of several bidders discussing the acquisition of the unit, which operates in over 25 countries. As far back as 2012 Genworth had identified the business as "non-core," Sky News said, adding that the unit was only put up for sale late last year when Barclays was hired to oversee an auction. It is estimated that the division could bring in $500 million. Apollo and Warburg Pincus are said to also have expressed interest in Genworth's lifestyle protection unit. Separately, TheStreet Ratings team rates GENWORTH FINANCIAL INC as a Sell with a ratings score of D+. TheStreet Ratings Team has this to say about their recommendation: "We rate GENWORTH FINANCIAL INC (GNW) a SELL. This is driven by several weaknesses, which we believe should have a greater impact than any strengths, and could make it more difficult for investors to achieve positive results compared to most of the stocks we cover. The company's weaknesses can be seen in multiple areas, such as its deteriorating net income, disappointing return on equity, generally disappointing historical performance in the stock itself and feeble growth in its earnings per share." Highlights from the analysis by TheStreet Ratings Team goes as follows: The company, on the basis of change in net income from the same quarter one year ago, has significantly underperformed when compared to that of the S&P 500 and the Insurance industry. The net income has significantly decreased by 465.4% when compared to the same quarter one year ago, falling from $208.00 million to -$760.00 million. Return on equity has greatly decreased when compared to its ROE from the same quarter one year prior. This is a signal of major weakness within the corporation. Compared to other companies in the Insurance industry and the overall market, GENWORTH FINANCIAL INC's return on equity significantly trails that of both the industry average and the S&P 500. Despite any intermediate fluctuations, we have only bad news to report on this stock's performance over the last year: it has tumbled by 54.27%, worse than the S&P 500's performance. Consistent with the plunge in the stock price, the company's earnings per share are down 464.28% compared to the year-earlier quarter. Naturally, the overall market trend is bound to be a significant factor. However, in one sense, the stock's sharp decline last year is a positive for future investors, making it cheaper (in proportion to its earnings over the past year) than most other stocks in its industry. But due to other concerns, we feel the stock is still not a good buy right now. GENWORTH FINANCIAL INC has experienced a steep decline in earnings per share in the most recent quarter in comparison to its performance from the same quarter a year ago. The company has reported a trend of declining earnings per share over the past two years. However, the consensus estimate suggests that this trend should reverse in the coming year. During the past fiscal year, GENWORTH FINANCIAL INC swung to a loss, reporting -$2.51 versus $1.15 in the prior year. This year, the market expects an improvement in earnings ($1.00 versus -$2.51). Despite currently having a low debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, it is higher than that of the industry average, inferring that management of debt levels may need to be evaluated further. You can view the full analysis from the report here: GNW Ratings Report Must Read: Warren Buffett's Top 25 Stocks for 2015
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