Ping An 2318

[winston]

DJ MARKET TALK: CS Keeps Ping An At Outperform; Target At HK$82

1435 [Dow Jones] STOCK CALL: Credit Suisse keeps Ping An (2318.HK) at Outperform, target at HK$82.00. Notes life premium +34% on-year at CNY3 billion in January-August, says these figures will likely further reinforce renewed confidence market appears to have in premium and value of new business (VNB) growth outlook for Ping An's life business.

"Our 30% VNB growth assumption for FY09 allows for a slowing of premium volume in 2H09. If the August run-rate is maintained for the rest of the year, we believe there will be upside risk to our VNB estimates."

Source: Dow Jones Newswire

[winston]

I'm not jumping up and down like this guy ..

DJ MARKET TALK:Ping An +1.5%;China Life Insurers In Sweet Spot-GS

1105 [Dow Jones] Ping An (2318.HK) +1.5% at HK$67.55, roughly in line with HSI's +1.5%, after releasing its latest operating data. "We believe that Ping An's September life premium growth is in line with our expectations," says Goldman Sachs.

House still says life insurers are in a sweet spot and tips Ping An's new business value will grow 27% on-year, 24% on-year in FY09 and FY10, respectively.

( 25% growth in life insurance ? )

Adds Ping An's P&C premium growth better-than-expected, attributes this to strong car sales on government policy support and stabilizing auto insurance premium rates. Keeps Ping An at Buy, target HK$76.40.

( stabilizing auto rates ? and what about claims ratio ? )

Source: Dow Jones Newswire

[winston]

Not vested. Need to also mention that UOB has a JV with Ping An but I'm sure there's a Chinese Wall between the departments. I'm not as positive as this analyst.

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DJ MARKET TALK: UOB Raises Ping An Target To HK$86.30 Vs HK$76.20

1004 [Dow Jones] STOCK CALL: UOB KayHian tips Ping An Insurance (2318.HK) to report 9M09 net profit of CNY7.8 billion under IFRS, with earnings growth still slowed by high expenses due to acquisition costs for rapid first-year-premium growth.

Lowers 2009 net profit estimate by 23% to CNY10.815 billion, but adds still expects Ping An to generate strong EV growth for year on strong FYP growth, rebounding A-share market, rising bond yields.

Expects sound premium structure to remain EV-accretive, notes life insurance growth remained strong, with 3Q09 premiums +28% on-year. Raises target price to HK$86.30 from HK$76.20 after increasing new business value multiple to 23X on positive long-term drivers for overall life insurance sector, such as deferred tax for annuities.

Source: Dow Jones Newswire

[winston]

DJ Ping An Swings To 3Q Net Profit Of CNY2.58B Vs Loss CNY7.81B

SHANGHAI (Dow Jones)--Ping An Insurance (Group) Co. of China Ltd. (2318.HK) said Tuesday it swung to a third-quarter net profit of CNY2.58 billion from a CNY7.81 billion net loss a year earlier when it booked a huge impairment charge on its ill-timed investment in Fortis NV.

Ping An, 16.8%-owned by HSBC Holdings PLC, said its gross premium income rose 36% in the three months ended Sept. 30 to CNY41.06 billion from CNY30.18 billion a year earlier.

The results are according to Chinese accounting standards.

The insurer invested CNY23.87 billion in Fortis, but had to write down CNY22.8 billion of the investment in the second half last year, as the former financial-services giant fell victim to the global financial crisis and was carved up by the Belgian, Dutch and Luxembourg governments in October 2008.

Ping An is China's second-largest life insurer by premiums after China Life Insurance Co.

Source: Rose Yu, Dow Jones Newswires

[winston]

Ping An fortunes reverse by Katherine Ng, The Standard HK

The stock market rally helped Ping An Insurance (2318) earn 3.36 billion yuan (HK$3.81 billion) in the third quarter - a massive turnaround from the 7.9 billion yuan it lost in the same period last year.

The mainland's second-largest insurer recorded robust growth in the first nine months of 388 percent to 8.8 billion yuan, compared with last year's 1.8 billion yuan.

Investment income for July to September brought a 9 billion yuan profit, from a 12.39 billion yuan loss last year.

Net profit for the nine months ended September was 8.81 billion yuan.

Chairman Ma Mingzhe said Ping An was able to make a profit in the third quarter because it had kept pace with the market and seized investment opportunities.

( Insurance Companies are not supposed to be traders. They matched their Assets to their Liabilities and make on the spread )

"The three pillars of business - insurance, banking and investment - are particularly well positioned to capitalize on future growth momentum,"Ma added. Its insurance business, which contributed more than 60 percent of operating profit, recorded net premium growth of 24.2 percent at 25.5 billion yuan for the third quarter. Profit for the first nine months was 82.3 billion yuan.

( The Financial Supermarket Model is dead in the West )

Its banking services' contribution remained small, accounting for about 7 percent, with interest and fee income totaling 2.656 billion yuan.

Ma said total loans and deposits grew 48 percent and 35 percent, respectively, with non-performing loans ratio controlled at 0.44 percent.

Ma warned that, despite the good performance in the third quarter, economic uncertainties, low bond yields and increased stock-market volatility are casting a cloud over fourth-quarter results.

http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_deta ... 91028&fc=4

[winston]

DJ MARKET TALK: Ping An Off 1.5%; Valuation Still Demanding-Daiwa

1138 [Dow Jones] Ping An (2318.HK) down 1.5% at HK$70.35, roughly in line with HSI's 1.4% fall, as 3Q09 results likely priced in after stock's 16.1% gain month-to-yesterday, vs HSI's +5.8% during same period.

Daiwa says 3Q09 total investment income better than expected, leading house to raise total investment return forecasts to 5.3% for FY09 from 5.1% previously, to 5.2% from 5.0% for FY10; raises EVPS forecast by 19.1% for FY10.

Raises SOTP-based target to HK$70.80 from HK$65.90. But keeps at Hold on view valuation remains demanding.

Source: Dow Jones Newswire

[winston]

Not vested. Not as positive as this Analyst from GS.

DJ MARKET TALK: GS Prefers Ping An To China Life; Ups Targets

0943 [Dow Jones] Goldman Sachs remains fundamentally positive on China life insurance sector, given near-term sector catalysts, including:-

1) rising bond yields on expectation of inflation
(existing bod portfolio would be hit !)

2) positive view on A-share returns through 2010
( if the market continues to go up ! )

3) potential further investment liberalization to allow insurers to invest in private equity, property (subject to debate on property market policies).
( too far out to be a catalyst )

Prefers Ping An to China Life, given PA's lower valuation relative to CL's, while PA has higher earnings/EV sensitivity to rising investment returns, solid solvency margin and execution ability on managing premium growth, investment and trust/securities business.

Raises China Life H-share target to HK$41 vs HK$36, A-share (601628.SH) target to CNY40 vs CNY34; Ping An H-share target to HK$85 vs HK$76.40, A-share (601318.SH) target to CNY81 vs CNY73.20 after rolling over to FY10.

Source: Dow Jones Newswire

[winston]

MARKET TALK: Ping An Premium Up 34.9%; No Surprise

[winston]

Not vested.

DJ MARKET TALK: Ping An Down 1.8%; Ignores November Premium Data

1048 [Dow Jones] Ping An (2318.HK) down 1.8% at HK$68.70, mostly in line with magnitude of declines in mainland financial stocks, ignoring news life premium income for January-November period +32% on year at CNY121.94 billion.

Credit Suisse says life insurance business' volume growth remained consistent, attractive; stock trading at 2.4X 2010 P/EV, 20X value of new business "a fair long-term entry point," but near-term performance could be influenced by potential issuance of 299 million shares in conjunction with Shenzhen Development Bank deal.

House keeps Outperform call, HK$88 target price on Ping An.

Source: Dow Jones Newswire

[winston]

Not vested. From UOBKH:-

Recommendation

Positioned for strong growth next year. Despite Ping An’s strong actuarial numbers over 2009, its accounting income generally disappointed the market on higher-than-expected operating expenses.

( This is a surprise as Ping An was making good money off their expenses. If they are not making money from expenses, where will they be making money from ? Investments? Mortality ? ) LOVL

However, we expect Ping An to see very strong growth for 2010 on the low-base effect of 2009 as well as its higher sensitivity to rising interest rates.

( Higher interest rates is good for new investments but the existing bond portfolio would be hit ).

The stock is trading at 2.6x 2010 P/EV, which we believe remains attractive given the industry outlook for life insurance next year and Ping An’s outperformance for premium growth in 2010.