Qbe

[NZmale]

Hey all, a friend of mine has expressed interest in QBE. Any thoughts on this as well... your help is much appreciated!!

Really enjoying reading all the threads on here.. some great advice, many thanks to all of you for your advice for us novice sharetraders!

H J

[gambier33]

For an investor, QBE is a must for any balanced portfolio. It's the current pick for the general insurance sector. IAG isn't far behind. Wouldn't be a great traders stock IMO. Cheers

[macduffy]

Just to get the ball rolling.

QBE is the biggest and regarded as the best of the Australian general insurers. Market cap of over $19 billion, trading at a reasonable P/E, respectable dividend yield.
Not a company I've invested in myself, mainly because I don't find insurance accounts very readable by the uninitiated. Management have a good reputation, or so I'm told.

Have a look at their website, accessable from the ASX site.

[NZmale]

thanks a lot guys... so i never got to say thanks earlier... i appreciate it

[POSSUM THE CAT]

NZmale should be an old thread in the archives G Stolwyk was posting a lot of detail about QBE. This my be of some help to you.

[Aaron]

A newbie question. As I am reasonably lazy I haven't done my own research but QBE after a result that disappointed the market dropped in price is currently just over $18. My broker says it is worth $26 and looking at incredible charts its broken the 30 & 60 day moving average. Other indicators such as relative strength and stochastic ocillators seem to be indicating things are in the right direction if I am using the right time periods. I don't know enough to say its something other than a gamble but if you bought now and sold in a month at $20 you could make 10% with hopefully not too much downside as the company pays a 7% dividend and only dropped to $16 in March 2009.
Rather than selling at $20 as it may not reach that high anyway what sort of exit strategy would people suggest. I would probably take the 60 day moving average crossing back over the share price line but what other signals would people recommend and what sort of time periods would you use.

[POSSUM THE CAT]

Aaron do some research on their reinsurance exposure

[Arbitrage]

Is there any reason not to buy QBE? It has fallen a long way in the past 12 months. Sure it has exposure to the bad stuff in Europe and elsewhere, but as a solid company with a lot of potential upside, I suggest it is worth a punt at its current level.

[macduffy]

QBE is out of favour largely because it earns a lot of its profits in that weak and unpopular currency, the USD.

Buying now would amount to a bet in the recovery of the almighty dollar, IMO.

[RRR]

QBE is languishing due to low interest rates and a strong A$-they are just not getting any returns on their investments. They are being punished for doing the right thing but what can they do. Their insurance business is doing just fine. QBE is 8% of my portfolio and 10% down. I am not in a hurry to add more-I think they will get more cheaper. Who knows? They are surely not going to rocket up to $26 any time soon-these investment bankers/brokers have vested interest I reckon(they probably have invested in QBE for a lot higher price than the current share price and talking up the share). QBE is big and it moves slowly. I am happy with the dividend yield and with the DRP. I will be very very patient with this one.