Stock Valuation: Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd (601398) – ProThinker

Name of Company	Country of Origin/ Exchange Traded	Sector	Stock Price
INDUSTRIAL AND COMMERCIAL BANK OF CHINA LTD	Hong Kong/ SHSE	Financial Services – Banks – Banks – Global	CNY5.55
			@ 02 Aug 2018
COMPANY PROFILE	Industrial And Commercial Bank Of China Ltd is engaged in providing financial services. It provides corporate and personal banking, treasury operations, investment banking, asset management, trust, ï¬nancial leasing, insurance & other ï¬nancial services. Founded in 1984, ICBC listed its shares in mainland China and Hong Kong in 2006. The bank is China’s largest by asset scale and by share of lending and deposits. Central Huijin Investment (China’s sovereign wealth fund manager) and China’s Ministry of Finance are ICBC’s two largest shareholders, each with a stake of around 35%. ICBC is headquartered in Beijing and operates 16,270 outlets. Among these outlets, 417 outlets are located in 42 countries and regions overseas.
Stock Code	601398
Stock Valuation Below

Price to Earnings, Price to Sales and Price to Cash Flow ratios all value a company based on what it is generating (i.e. profits, sales or cash flow). Price to Book ratio is different in that it values a company based on what it owns (i.e. its net assets). This is usually a suitable valuation indicator for a financial institution, which frequently revalues its assets and liabilities, or a company with huge asset base e.g. utilities company.
At the price of CNY5.55 as at 02 Aug 2018, Industrial And Commercial Bank Of China Ltd is trading at a Price to Book Ratio of 0.9 times current book value. This is a 14% discount to its historical average Price to Book Ratio of 1.0 times.
Is the stock undervalued? One should not just look at one indicator to determine the fair value of a stock.
ProThinker believes in using a combination of valuation methods to decide whether a stock is over or undervalued? The five ratios we use are Price to Earnings, Price to Sales, Price to Cash Flow, Price to Book and Dividend Yield. We use multiple methods to value a stock because each has its benefits as well as shortcomings. Price to Earnings and Price to Cash Flow Ratios relate stock price to profitability but are meaningless when the comany has negative earnings or cash flows. Price to Sales Ratio is more stable because sales are never negative. However, this does not tell us whether the company is able to sell profitably. Price to Book Ratio gives us an indication as to how much we are paying for the company’s assets but it is not directly related to the company’s profitability. Dividend Yield cannot be used for companies that are paying little to no dividends.
While it is important to value stocks based on multiple valuation methods, this often leads to differing views on valuation. One indicator may suggest that a stock is overvalued while another suggest that it is undervalued. This does not help an investor who needs to make a definite decision whether to buy, hold or sell the stock. That is why we advocate the use of a Composite Valuation Indicator, which is derived from the best combination of the five indicators above. A Composite Valuation Indicator will give you ONE conclusion on whether a stock is under or over valued.
To find out more about our valuation methodology, click here.
Source of Data: Charts are from ProThinker Stock Report. Company description, historical financial statements data and price data are from gurufocus.com. Estimates are from gurufocus and/or 4-traders.com – Thomson Reuters.
Disclaimer: This report is for information purposes only and should not be considered a solicitation to buy or sell any security. Neither ProThinker nor any other party guarantees its accuracy or makes warranties regarding results from its usage. Redistribution is prohibited without the express written consent of ProThinker. Copyright(c) 2018. All rights reserved.