---
endpoint: analytics
pattern: Insurance
status: done
latency_ms: 162418
conversation_id: 36509767-598b-4ea9-bb8c-10457264d8d6
citations: 2
created: 2026-05-31 18:48:39Z
---

# How does Ping An’s valuation compare to peers, and what justifies its premium/discount?

# Ping An Insurance — Valuation vs. Peers

**Sources & vintage caveat**: CLSA's internal China Insurance coverage in this workspace is anchored on three notes — "Cautiously optimistic" (14-Nov-2024), the March 2025 Transfer-of-Coverage [4], and the May 2025 Transfer-of-Coverage [1][5]. Most recent corporate datapoint is Ping An's own 1Q 2026 quarterly release [6][7]. The CLSA corpus's freshest valuation framework on this name is the May-2025 update [1] — read "latest" relative to that.

## CLSA's current call and price-target framework

As of the 13-May-2025 Transfer-of-Coverage, CLSA rates **Ping An OUTPERFORM (O-PF) on both the H- and A-share lines** [1][5]:

| Ticker | Rating | Price (13-May-25) | Target Price | Implied Upside |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ping An (2318 HK) | O-PF | HK$46.50 | **HK$61.50** | **+32%** |
| Ping An – A (601318 CH) | O-PF | Rmb51.75 | **Rmb72.80** | **+41%** |

Peers in the same coverage note (sorted by CLSA conviction):

| Peer | Ticker | Rating | Price | TP | Upside |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AIA | 1299 HK | **O-PF** | HK$61.55 | HK$90.00 | +46% |
| **Ping An** | **2318 HK** | **O-PF** | **HK$46.50** | **HK$61.50** | **+32%** |
| Taiping | 966 HK | O-PF | HK$10.96 | HK$17.50 | +60% |
| PICC P&C | 2328 HK | O-PF | HK$14.72 | HK$15.20 | +3% |
| PICC Group | 1339 HK | O-PF | HK$4.84 | HK$5.30 | +9% |
| Prudential | 2378 HK | O-PF | HK$84.85 | HK$90.00 | +6% |
| CPIC | 2601 HK | HLD | HK$22.25 | HK$24.60 | +11% |
| China Life | 2628 HK | HLD | HK$14.90 | HK$14.10 | −5% |
| New China Life | 1336 HK | HLD | HK$30.25 | HK$23.20 | −23% |
| China Life – A | 601628 CH | **U-PF** | Rmb37.64 | Rmb33.40 | −11% |

[1] for the full table.

**Note on the implied A-share / H-share gap**: CLSA's target prices imply an A/H valuation differential — Ping An-A target Rmb72.80 vs Ping An-H target HK$61.50, suggesting Ping An-A trades at a meaningful premium to Ping An-H [1]. This is a structural feature of Chinese dual-listed insurers (capital-account controls, southbound flow dynamics) rather than a Ping An-specific phenomenon.

## PE-based snapshot from the CLSA sector outlook

In CLSA's "Time for the optimists" / "Cautiously optimistic" framework, the published PE/EPS grid showed Ping An at the **low end of the peer multiple range** [2]:

| Company | TP (HK$) | EPS (HK$) | PE (x) |
|---|---|---|---|
| **Ping An** | **110.00** | **9.93** | **11.1** |
| China Life | 20.00 | 1.44 | 13.9 |
| China Re | 4.50 | 0.32 | 14.1 |
| PICC P&C | 7.50 | 0.53 | 14.2 |
| PICC Group | 5.40 | 0.36 | 15.0 |

[2]: Ping An traded at **~11x PE** vs the Chinese-insurance peer band of **~14-15x** — i.e., a ~20-25% PE discount to the average Chinese-insurance peer.

## What CLSA argues justifies the relative positioning

CLSA frames Ping An as a top pick within the China insurance universe, alongside CPIC, PICC Group, Taiping and PICC P&C [3]. Key arguments behind the O-PF call (and the implication that the current PE discount is unwarranted, hence the +32% target upside [1]):

1. **Most-popular-among-investors status**: After the November-2024 CITICS conference, CLSA noted "Ping An and CPIC are still the most popular companies" with investor focus on jumpstart campaign, product mix, pricing changes, investment yield assumptions and dividends [3]. The implication: institutional demand supports the H-share, but the PE has not yet rerated to reflect this.
2. **Incrementally positive margin & yield commentary**: CLSA observed "incremental positive changes in tone from the insurance companies, particularly on margin trend and bond yields" [3] — a key driver because Chinese insurers' valuations are highly sensitive to long-duration investment yield assumptions inside Embedded Value.
3. **Continuity in the bull thesis across coverage transfers**: The 24-Mar-2025 transfer (to Mindy Gao) kept Ping An at TP HK$61.50 vs price HK$49.30 [4]; the 13-May-2025 transfer (to Ding Luo) kept the **same TP HK$61.50** even after the H-share drifted to HK$46.50 [1] — suggesting CLSA's sequential analyst handoffs have re-validated the target.

## What justifies the *discount* (the negatives that hold the multiple down)

While CLSA didn't publish a single "premium/discount bridge" in the documents in scope, the implied discount-justifying factors are visible across the corpus and Ping An's 1Q 2026 disclosure:

1. **Reported-net-profit drag despite operating-profit growth**: 1Q 2026 net profit attributable to parent fell **-7.4% YoY** to RMB 25.0bn even as operating profit rose +7.6% to RMB 40.8bn [6]. The gap reflects volatile short-term investment variance under IFRS 17/9 — the kind of earnings-quality noise that investors discount.
2. **Conglomerate complexity & banking exposure**: Ping An consolidates Ping An Bank, Ping An P&C, Asset Management, Life & Health, and Finance Enablement (Lufax, OneConnect, Ping An Health), creating a sum-of-parts discount relative to pure-play life insurers like AIA — which CLSA still has bigger upside on (+46% vs +32%) [1].
3. **Investment-yield risk inside L&H EV**: CLSA flagged that "a few companies think the current yield is insufficient to meet expectations and will therefore incrementally increase allocation to stocks and tactical bond trading" — implying long-bond yields remain a key swing factor for Chinese life-insurance EV.

## What justifies the *premium* (the positives that should support a re-rate)

1. **Visible NBV inflection**: Life & Health NBV grew **+20.8% YoY to RMB 15.6bn** in 1Q 2026, with bancassurance, community finance, and other channels' share of Ping An Life's NBV rising 6.8 pps YoY [7]. NBV is the single most important valuation driver for Chinese life insurers and a +20% print is well above the sector trend.
2. **P&C combined-ratio improvement**: Ping An P&C's COR improved by **0.8 pps YoY to 95.8%** in 1Q 2026, with NEV-auto premium income up +16.1% YoY [6]. This is meaningful because P&C contributes a more capital-light, less yield-sensitive earnings stream than L&H.
3. **Ping An Bank stability**: Revenue +4.7% / net profit +3.0% YoY in 1Q 2026, with NPL ratio at 1.05%, provision coverage 219.59%, and core Tier-1 CAR rising 0.15 pps to 9.51% [6]. The banking sleeve is no longer a balance-sheet worry, which supports holdco-level book value.

## Bottom line — premium or discount?

On CLSA's pricing in scope, **Ping An currently trades at a PE discount of roughly 20-25% to the China-insurance peer average** (~11x vs ~14-15x peers) [2], yet carries an **OUTPERFORM rating with ~32% implied upside on the H-share and ~41% on the A-share** [1]. CLSA's view is that this gap is unwarranted — the discount reflects (a) conglomerate/banking complexity, (b) IFRS-driven net-profit volatility, and (c) long-bond yield concerns, while the underlying operating delivery (NBV +20.8%, COR improving, OP +7.6%) [6][7] supports closing the gap rather than widening it. Within the broader Asia/EM-life universe, AIA still gets the highest "quality premium" target upside in the same publisher note (+46% to HK$90 [1]) — so Ping An is "premium vs domestic China-insurance peers ex-AIA but discount vs AIA," a framing the CLSA target prices align with.

---
**Sources**

[1] China insurance (Transfer of coverage) — CLSA (13 May 2025) — 607958951LinqAlpha.PDF
[2] China insurance (Cautiously optimistic) — CLSA (14 Nov 2024) — 607944405LinqAlpha.PDF
[3] China insurance (Cautiously optimistic) — CLSA (14 Nov 2024) — 607944405LinqAlpha.PDF
[4] China/HK insurance (Transfer of coverage) — CLSA (24 Mar 2025) — 607953670LinqAlpha.PDF
[5] China insurance (Transfer of coverage) — CLSA (13 May 2025) — 607958951LinqAlpha.PDF
[6] Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China, Q1 2026 Report — Ping An IR (interim_report)
[7] Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China, Q1 2026 Report — Ping An IR (interim_report)

## Citations

- [6] **Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China, Ltd., Q1 2026 Report** · external
- [7] **Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China, Ltd., Q1 2026 Report** · external

