Historically, the company can trace its roots to the Railway Engineering Corps, a unit of China’s military. Since it was corporatised and eventually listed in 2008, it has built up operations all over China and in more than 130 countries and regions worldwide, undertaking high-profile projects like building the main stadium in Qatar for the World Cup. Its scope of activities covers project planning and design consultation, real estate development, industrial manufacturing and materials logistics. It provides investment, financing and maintenance to project owners too.
Year to date, China Railway Construction Corp’s share price has already gained by a fifth, but analysts, to a tee, still believe the stock is worth investing in. According to Bloomberg data, the 18 analysts with active coverage on this stock all rate this counter “buy” or equivalent. CICC is the most bullish, with a target price of HK$12.85 ($2.20), while others are mainly in the HK$7 to HK$9 range.
Using current metrics, China Railway Construction’s share price is attractive. It trades at a historical P/E of just 3 times and a forward P/E of 2.5 times while yielding 5.35%. Earnings for FY2022 ended December 2022 increased by 7.9% y-o-y to RMB26.6 billion ($4.9 billion) on the back of a revenue of RMB1.1 trillion, up 7.48%.
