YWR

What do you get when Wells Fargo and United Healthcare have a Chinese baby?

Ping An Insurance (2318 HK).

Ping An is the leading private life and health insurer in China. They also own a bank (Ping An) bank. The company has a reputation for being on the cutting edge of technology and retail distribution of financial products in China. It is a big cap financial with a market cap of $140bn.

Ping A first caught my attention in 2024, because I was surprised this former darling had become so lowly valued. The recent sell off in the share price and the positive 1H 2026 results have created another attractive entry point.

Ping An's investment portfolio is benefitting from the rise in equity markets and earnings look like they will beat consensus estimates for 2026 and likely 2027.

I forecast an EPS of RMB 8.8/share in 2026 and 10.2 in 2027 vs consensus of RMB 8.2 and 8.7.

This puts the shares on a 2026 P/E of 5.5x and less than 5x in 2027 with a dividend yield of 5.9%.

Longer term Ping A benefits

Cash levels reported by the BofA fund manager survey are at record lows. On the face of it this indicates investors are highly bullish (no cash), but I'm not sure I see that much bullishness in the market. Still seems like so much skepticism about everything.