2024 hasn’t been kind to the Prudential (LSE:PRU) share price. At 666.8p per share, the life insurance giant’s one of the FTSE 100‘s worst-performing shares in the year to date, down 25%.

That sinking feeling at ‘The Pru’ hasn’t just materialised however. In fact, it’s halved in value since the start of 2023 as worries over Asian economies — and particularly key market China — have steadily built.

I can’t help but think that the bad news is now more than baked into Prudential’s low valuation though. It now trades on a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 9.2 times, below the FTSE 100 average of 10.8 times.

In fact, given how stable trading remains at the emerging markets company, I believe the market’s being overly bearish. Here’s why I think it could be one of the Footsie’s best tactical buys right now.

Another solid update

In last week’s half-year statement, Prudential said that new business profit remained stable at $1.47bn in the period. This was down 1% at actual exchange rates, but given broader economic conditions it still represented a pretty decent performance.

Encouragingly, it added that “we have seen a pick up in sales momentum in June [that’s continued] into the second half of the year“.

This isn’t the first reassuring update it’s put out in recent months. Indeed, adjusted operating profit at the firm increased a healthy 6% between January and June, to $1.5bn.

In other good news, Prudential said its free surplus ratio was a robust 232% as of June. Down 10% percentage points from the same point in 2023, this remained well above the target range of 175-200%.

Accordingly, Prudential raised the interim dividend 9% to 6.86 US cents per share.

Excellent value

As I mentioned earlier, Prudential shares trade at a handy discount to the broader FTSE 100. But this isn’t all. As the table below shows, its forward P/E ratio of 9.2 times is also lower than all of those in its peer group (bar MetLife).

It could be argued that The Pru’s exposure to volatile emerging markets merits such a discount. There may be some truth in that, but I’m not convinced.

In fact, I believe it’s geographic footprint could give it better investment potential than its industry rivals. More specifically, it has a great chance to harness the rapid population growth and increasing personal incomes in its far-flung regions.

Indeed, demand for life insurance in Asia’s sharply accelerating, according to research from Allianz. Regional premium growth came in at 14.9% in 2023, the firm said, significantly higher than the 5.2% long-term average.

In this climate, Prudential has said it expects to deliver “compounded annual growth rate for new business profit of 15% to 20% and double-digit for cash generation“.

With the business still expanding in Asia and investing heavily on the digital side, I wouldn’t bet against it.