China Life(SH:601628) Soochow Securities·2025-03-27 09:34Investment Rating - The investment rating for the company is "Buy" (maintained) [1] Core Views - The report highlights that investment income has driven a significant increase in net profit, with a year-on-year growth of 131.56% for the parent net profit in 2024, reaching 106.935 billion yuan [7][8] - The company has increased its annual dividend per share by 51% to 0.65 yuan, with a dividend payout ratio of 17% [7] - The report anticipates continued growth in net profit for the years 2025 to 2027, estimating 107.5 billion yuan, 112 billion yuan, and 120.5 billion yuan respectively [7] Financial Performance Summary - Total revenue for 2023 was 344.272 billion yuan, projected to increase to 528.567 billion yuan in 2024, representing a year-on-year growth of 53.53% [1] - The company's total investment assets reached 6.6 trillion yuan, a 22.1% increase from the beginning of the year [7] - The net investment yield is expected to be 3.5% in 2024, with a total investment yield of 5.5% [26] Business Structure and Growth - The report indicates a shift in business structure, with new single premiums increasing by 1.6% year-on-year, and first-year premiums rising by 5.8% [7] - The individual insurance business has shown stable growth, with individual insurance first-year premiums up by 9.2% [7] - The number of individual insurance agents is projected to decline slightly, but productivity per agent has improved, with a 15% year-on-year increase in monthly first-year premium contributions [7] Valuation Metrics - The current market capitalization is approximately 1,068.123 billion yuan, with a price-to-earnings ratio (P/E) of 23.13 for 2023 and projected to decrease to 9.99 by 2025 [5][26] - The price-to-embedded value (P/EV) is currently at 0.76, indicating that the stock is still undervalued [1][26] - The report suggests that the company's embedded value (EV) is expected to grow by 11.2% year-on-year, reaching 1.4 trillion yuan [7]