China Life Insurance expanding business 2013

best insurance stock - China Life Insurance expanding  business 2013 : China Life Insurance Co. (LFC) will primarily focus on expanding its life insurance business this year despite growing pressure due to slower sales in the sector, President Yang Mingsheng said Thursday.

The company will also eye investment opportunities in state-backed projects in regions like the Yangtze River Delta and the Zhujiang Delta, Mr. Yang said at a press briefing after the company reported a 40% drop in 2012 net profit late Wednesday, citing a "decline in investment yield" and an "increase in impairment losses resulting from continued weakness in capital markets."

Net profit for the 12 months ended Dec. 31 was 11.06 billion yuan ($1.78 billion) compared with CNY18.33 billion a year earlier, China's top life insurer by premiums said.

Mr. Yang also said bancassurance sales are likely to continue falling this year as insurers face increasing competition from bank products such as high-yield wealth management products.

China Life's vice president Liu Jiade said local stock markets may see some improvement this year, which would help improve the company's investment yield as well as bring down impairment losses.

Investment income for 2012 rose to CNY80.01 billion from CNY64.82 billion, while investment yield fell to 2.79% from 3.51%, and impairment losses more than doubled to CNY31.05 billion from CNY12.94 billion, it said late Wednesday.

China Life Insurance stock rating prices target by zacks

China Life Insurance stock rating prices target by zacks, China Life Insurance stock rating 2013 : China Life Insurance (NYSE: LFC) was downgraded by Zacks from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday. They currently have a $46.00 price target on the stock.

Zacks‘ analyst wrote, “We are downgrading our recommendation on China Life to Underperform based on the constant decline in operating cash flow, which is affecting the financials. The gradual decline in premiums and increasing competition on the domestic front are the other downsides. The company also faces substantial interest rate and currency risks, which limit the upside. China Life also reported a net loss in the third quarter, due to a surge in operating expenses, which offset the operating income increases. However, total assets and shareholders’ equity improved, although cash fund deteriorated. Meanwhile, the subordinated debt issue has improved the solvency ratio. The company has a strong brand name, an extensive domestic distribution channel, strong investments and stable ratings.”

Separately, analysts at Credit Suisse downgraded shares of China Life Insurance from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note to investors on Wednesday.

Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, four have given an overweight rating, fourteen have given a hold rating, and one has given a sell rating to the company’s stock. The stock currently has a consensus rating of “overweight” and an average price target of $48.66.

Shares of China Life Insurance traded up 0.24% during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $51.17. China Life Insurance has a one year low of $33.00 and a one year high of $52.72. The stock’s 50-day moving average is currently $47.73. The company has a market cap of $94.110 billion and a P/E ratio of 66.73.

China Life Insurance Company Limited is an insurance company. The Company provides a range of insurance products, including individual life insurance, group life insurance, accident insurance and health insurance products. Source www.zacks.com

LFC stock prices forecast 2013

Best Insurance stock - LFC stock prices forecast 2013 :  China Life Insurance (NYSE: LFC)  reported a net loss in the third quarter, due to a surge in operating expenses, which offset the operating income increases. However, premiums earned and investment income witnessed a notable improvement. Total assets and shareholders’ equity also improved, while cash fund deteriorated. Meanwhile, the subordinated debt issue has improved solvency ratio.

 Extensive domestic distribution channel, strong investment and stable ratings are other positives. However, the constant decline in operating cash flow is affecting financials. The company also inherently faces substantial interest rate and currency risks, which limit the upside. Despite a strong brand name, significant competition on the domestic front hampers earnings growth. Overall, we expect limited upside in the near term

China Life Insurance Co Ltd announced that it expects its net profit for the first three quarters of fiscal year (FY) 2012 decrease by approximately 55%, compared to the net profit of the same period in FY 2011 (RMB 16,717,000,000). The Company cited the decreased rate of return on investments and impairment loss on assets as the main reasons for the forecast.

Shares of China Life Insurance fell 1.9 percent in Hong Kong from Thursday's 18-month high, while Ping An Insurance , its smaller sector rival, dropped 2.1 percent.

Zacks reiterated their neutral rating on shares of China Life Insurance (NYSE: LFC) in a research report sent to investors on Friday morning on Dec 25th, 2012   The firm currently has a $49.00 price target on the stock.

Fitch Ratings maintains a "stable" outlook for China's insurance sector 2013 , but recent exits by overseas investors' stirred concerns about the sector's profitability. "Our view is that the sector will be stable over the next 12 to 24 months," Terrence Wong, director of Fitch's insurance team, said on Monday. Property insurers' premiums are set to register double-digit growth this year and in 2013, but recent regulatory changes could intensify competition the ratings agency said. Read China insurance market growth outlook 2013

Earnings Growth Forecast

Fiscal Year End	Consensus EPS* Forecast	High EPS* Forecast	Low EPS* Forecast	Number of Estimates	Over the Last 4 Weeks Number of Revisions     Up                       Down
Dec 2012	1.06	1.09	1.03	2	0	0
Dec 2013	2.73	2.79	2.66	2	0	0
Dec 2014	3.07	3.07	3.07	1	0	0

Over the next five years, the analysts that follow this company are expecting it to grow earnings at an average annual rate of 20.19%.This year, analysts are forecasting earnings decrease of -31.61% over last year. Analysts expect earnings growth next year of 157.08% over this year's forecasted earnings

Price/Earning Ratio forecast 

Price/Earnings Ratio is a widely used stock evaluation measure. For a security, the Price/Earnings Ratio is given by dividing the Last Sale Price by the Average EPS (Earnings Per Share) Estimate for the specified fiscal time period.