Insurance & Reinsurance 02 (Oct 14 - Dec 25)

[winston]

<Research Report>G Sachs's Ratings & TPs for Chinese Insurers (Table)

Goldman Sachs, in its report, raised the target price of Chinese insurance stocks to factor in recent equity market performance and growing momentum of new business.

Stock/ Investment Rating/ Target Price (HK$)
CHINA LIFE (02628.HK)/ Buy/ 48.66
PING AN (02318.HK)/ Conviction Buy/ 145.78
CPIC (02601.HK)/ Neutral/ 49.72
NCI (01336.HK)/ Neutral/ 60.27
CHINA TAIPING (00966.HK)/ Neutral/ 35.99
PICC GROUP (01339.HK)/ Sell-> Neutral/ 5.7
PICC P&C (02328.HK)/ Buy/ 22.63

Source: AAStocks Financial News

[winston]

'THE WORLD'S GREATEST BUSINESS' MOVES HIGHER

Today's chart shows that the long-term uptrend is still in place for the insurance industry... what we call "the world's greatest business."

Insurance companies collect premiums from their customers.

If they're good at what they do, those premiums exceed what they'll end up paying out in claims. And in the meantime, they get to invest all that money.

The iShares Insurance Fund (IAK) is a one-click way to invest in insurance stocks.

Its largest holdings are industry giants like AIG, MetLife, and Prudential Financial.

This is a diversified – and safe – way to invest in insurance stocks. And as you can see, IAK is enjoying a big uptrend.

A quick look at IAK's chart shows insurance has been living up to its title of "world's greatest business."

Shares just struck a seven-year high... and have climbed more than 75% over the last three years.

Source: Daily Wealth

[winston]

Health insurance sector chugs along… industry leaders Cigna and Aetna hit new all-time highs.

[winston]

More Upside Ahead for One of the World's Greatest Businesses By Brian Hunt and Ben Morris

While Chinese stocks were crashing…

While natural resource stocks were hitting fresh multiyear lows…

While major stock indexes were selling off hard…

One of the world's strongest uptrends didn't miss a beat… And DailyWealth Trader readers are making money.

If you understand the powerful financial secret behind this trend, you can cash in, too. Below, we cover all of the details…

Selling insurance is one of the world's greatest businesses… And understanding it is one of the world's great investment secrets.

Insurance companies collect premiums from their customers. And if they're good at what they do, those premiums exceed what they'll end up paying out in claims. In the meantime, they get to invest all that money. As Porter Stansberry has explained in his Investment Advisory, insurance companies get paid to use capital. "That's a fantastic way to become very wealthy," he wrote.

Insurance stocks are also a great way to play inflation defense. Insurance companies take in current dollars… and agree to pay out claims in "future dollars." Should inflation gradually erode the value of the U.S. dollar as some analysts expect, well-managed insurance companies will prosper.

And even after more than six years, these stocks still haven't recovered from the financial crisis. Back in 2008, investors couldn't sell insurance stocks fast enough. Big names like AIG made promises they couldn't keep. From its May 2007 peak to its March 2009 low, the iShares Dow Jones U.S. Insurance Fund (IAK) lost 78% of its value.

The government stepped in with billions of dollars in bailouts… And insurance stocks soared. Since bottoming in 2009, these stocks are up over 300%… outpacing the S&P 500 Index by nearly 50%.

Despite this big run, insurance stocks haven't gotten even close to recovering.

They're still cheap… And there's still a lot of upside ahead.

IAK holds big-name insurance companies, like MetLife, AIG, and Aflac… It's a diversified way to invest in insurance stocks… and it's enjoying a long, steady uptrend.

As you can see in the chart below, IAK is up 312% since its March 2009 low. It has far outpaced the S&P 500. IAK has also been impressive in the past few weeks. While the stock market was dropping, IAK was hitting new highs. That's a major display of strength.

Please Enable Images to See this

But even after this huge rally, insurance stocks are cheap. Over the past 20 years, the S&P 500 Insurance Index has had an average price-to-book-value (P/B) ratio of 1.65. Today, it has a P/B ratio of 1.12. IAK's holdings are even cheaper, with an average P/B of just 1.06. (Book value is a rough measure of the liquidation value of a company's assets. And the P/B ratio is a simple, useful measure of value for financial stocks.)

These ratios are exactly where they were five years ago… But shares have doubled. This means that the values of these companies have doubled right along with share prices.

So insurance stocks are cheap and they're in a big uptrend. And shares of IAK would have to increase 56% just to get back to average valuations. If you don't own insurance stocks yet, it's a great time to open a position. We recommend using a 15% trailing stop to protect your capital if the trend turns.

In sum, insurance is a fantastic business… And insurance stocks are historically cheap. These cheap valuations mean there's great potential for more upside. So as long as the trend is up, ride it for profits.


Source: DailyWealth Trader

[winston]

HK Insurance

Insurers get mixed views

Insurance sector practitioners hold mixed views on prospects for the rest of this year, despite achieving high business growth in the first quarter.

Clarence Wong Shek-fai, Swiss Re's chief economist in Asia, said the local stock market rally early this year encouraged purchases of investment-linked life insurance products.

Hong Kong Federation of Insurers communications and committee general manager Selina Lau Pui-ling said more local clients bought insurance for investment due to low bank deposit rates or to simply hedge against risks.

The SAR's Independent Insurance Authority was set up last week. Federation chief executive Peter Tam Chung-ho said it will take two to three years for the new authority to assume all monitoring roles presently undertaken by the HKFI .

Allan Yu Kin-nam, chairman of the federation's general insurance council, expressed fears the authority might favor insurance agents and get more stern on intermediaries.

Overall nominal insurance premium recorded a year-on- year growth of 16.1 percent in the first quarter, with life insurance premium rising by 18.5 percent.

Federation chairman Mike Lee Siu- chuen said total gross premiums of the sector increased 13.4 percent to HK$329.7 billion from 2013 to 2014, and 21.4 percent of new premiums for individual business or HK$113.6 billion were contributed by mainlanders.

Lee said Hong Kong's secure legal system will continue inducing mainlanders to buy insurance products here. He expects double-digit growth in total premium this year.

Source: The Standard HK

[behappyalways]

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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... less-cars-

[winston]

Insurance sector chugs along… sector fund IAK hits a new 52-week high.

[winston]

<Research Report>Deutsche: China's Life Insurers' Fundamentals Strongest since 2007; China Life, China Taiping as Top Picks

Deutsche Bank, in its report, mentioned that the fundamentals of Chinese life insurers are the strongest since 2007, with a focus on higher margin business, strong agency growth and comfortable capital positions.

The current low interest rate environment should increase the attractiveness of insurance policies and boost VNB growth.

The broker expected the VNB of Chinese life insurers can rise 33% yearly in 2015 (Estimated growth in 2H15: approximately 24.4%), being the strongest in the recent five years.

Deutsche Bank said the current valuation of Chinese life insurers is at 2015E P/EV of 1.1x and have yet to factor in the much improved fundamentals.

The broker reiterated its positive view in the industry and upgraded the investment rating of China Life Insurance-A (601628.SH) and New China Life Insurance-A (601336.SH).

The industrial top picks are CHINA LIFE-H (02628.HK) and CHINA TAIPING-H(00966.HK) and both stocks are rated at Buy.

Source: AAStocks Financial News

[winston]

A good sign for the insurance industry… Chubb rises 23% over the past four months.

[winston]

The long-term uptrend in insurance continues... sector fund IAK is up 90%-plus over the past four years.