Ping An Securities·2025-03-06 03:35Investment Rating - The report maintains an investment rating of "Outperform" for the banking sector [1]. Core Insights - The core viewpoint emphasizes a "pro-cyclical + high dividend" strategy, with policy measures driving valuation recovery in the sector. The average dividend yield for the sector is currently at 4.50%, which remains historically high compared to the risk-free rate represented by the 10-year government bond yield. This indicates a continued appeal for fixed-income-like investments. The report also highlights the potential for regional banks benefiting from economic recovery and policy effectiveness, with a focus on the expected improvements in the real estate and consumer sectors [3][17]. Summary by Sections Investment Rating - The banking sector is rated as "Outperform" [1]. Core Insights - The average dividend yield for the banking sector is 4.50%, which is historically high compared to the risk-free rate [3][17]. - The report suggests that regional banks with strong growth potential and benefiting from policy support should be closely monitored [3][17]. - The static price-to-book (PB) ratio for the sector is currently at 0.66, indicating a significant safety margin with an implied non-performing loan rate exceeding 15% [3][17]. Market Trends - In February 2025, the banking sector experienced a decline of 0.98%, underperforming the CSI 300 index by 2.89 percentage points, ranking 27th out of 30 sectors [21][27]. - The report notes that the average dividend yield of the six major state-owned banks in Hong Kong is 1.33 percentage points higher than that of A-shares, making them attractive to stable investment funds [4][9]. Individual Stock Recommendations - The report recommends focusing on regional banks such as Chengdu Bank and Changsha Bank, which are expected to benefit from their regional advantages and ongoing economic recovery. Chengdu Bank is projected to have earnings per share (EPS) growth of 13.1% to 15.1% from 2024 to 2026, with a corresponding PB ratio of 0.90x to 0.70x [50][54][56].