Aegon a Solid Insurance Buy

Headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands, Aegon N.V. (AEG - Analyst Report) provides a multitude of insurance and pension-based saving and investment solutions. It is one of the world's ten largest life insurance companies ranked by assets, profits and market capitalization. Insurance services include personal and commercial life, health and accident insurance.

We are maintaining our Buy recommendation on Aegon after its 4th quarter results. While the current environment will be challenging for investment portfolios, we think that, at its current multiple, the stock is at a significant discount. Our six-month target price is $5.00.

At a current multiple of 3.3x our 2009 EPS and 0.2x Book, the stock is trading at a multiple substantially below the average of that of its peers. As such, fundamentally we think that there will be potential gain for stock in the near term.