Is Weakness In China Life Insurance Company Limited (HKG:2628) Stock A Sign That The Market Could be Wrong Given Its Strong Financial Prospects?

It is hard to get excited after looking at China Life Insurance's (HKG:2628) recent performance, when its stock has declined 5.8% over the past three months. However, a closer look at its sound financials might cause you to think again. Given that fundamentals usually drive long-term market outcomes, the company is worth looking at. Specifically, we decided to study China Life Insurance's ROE in this article.

Return on equity or ROE is a key measure used to assess how efficiently a company's management is utilizing the company's capital. Simply put, it is used to assess the profitability of a company in relation to its equity capital.

View our latest analysis for China Life Insurance

How Do You Calculate Return On Equity?

The formula for ROE is:

Return on Equity = Net Profit (from continuing operations) ÷ Shareholders' Equity

So, based on the above formula, the ROE for China Life Insurance is:

11% = CN¥49b ÷ CN¥424b (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2020).

The 'return' is the profit over the last twelve months. That means that for every HK$1 worth of shareholders' equity, the company generated HK$0.11 in profit.

Why Is ROE Important For Earnings Growth?

So far, we've learned that ROE is a measure of a company's profitability. Depending on how much of these profits the company reinvests or "retains", and how effectively it does so, we are then able to assess a company’s earnings growth potential. Assuming all else is equal, companies that have both a higher return on equity and higher profit retention are usually the ones that have a higher growth rate when compared to companies that don't have the same features.

China Life Insurance's Earnings Growth And 11% ROE

At first glance, China Life Insurance seems to have a decent ROE. Further, the company's ROE is similar to the industry average of 9.6%. This probably goes some way in explaining China Life Insurance's moderate 16% growth over the past five years amongst other factors.

We then compared China Life Insurance's net income growth with the industry and we're pleased to see that the company's growth figure is higher when compared with the industry which has a growth rate of 8.2% in the same period.

The basis for attaching value to a company is, to a great extent, tied to its earnings growth. The investor should try to establish if the expected growth or decline in earnings, whichever the case may be, is priced in. This then helps them determine if the stock is placed for a bright or bleak future. One good indicator of expected earnings growth is the P/E ratio which determines the price the market is willing to pay for a stock based on its earnings prospects. So, you may want to check if China Life Insurance is trading on a high P/E or a low P/E, relative to its industry.

Is China Life Insurance Making Efficient Use Of Its Profits?

China Life Insurance has a three-year median payout ratio of 35%, which implies that it retains the remaining 65% of its profits. This suggests that its dividend is well covered, and given the decent growth seen by the company, it looks like management is reinvesting its earnings efficiently.

Moreover, China Life Insurance is determined to keep sharing its profits with shareholders which we infer from its long history of paying a dividend for at least ten years. Upon studying the latest analysts' consensus data, we found that the company is expected to keep paying out approximately 36% of its profits over the next three years. Accordingly, forecasts suggest that China Life Insurance's future ROE will be 13% which is again, similar to the current ROE.

Summary

Overall, we are quite pleased with China Life Insurance's performance. In particular, it's great to see that the company is investing heavily into its business and along with a high rate of return, that has resulted in a sizeable growth in its earnings. Having said that, the company's earnings growth is expected to slow down, as forecasted in the current analyst estimates. To know more about the latest analysts predictions for the company, check out this visualization of analyst forecasts for the company.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.
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