EM Fund Stock Picks & Country Commentaries (February 22, 2026)

ASEAN for dividends, Vietnam on the way to investment-grade rating, stocks trading at discounts to historical valuations despite strong earnings growth, USD & portfolios, January fund updates, etc.

As of late February, more January fund updates (our continuously updated post containing all funds is here) along with new research has become available starting with some interesting non-EM pieces that cover non-EM stocks:

• 🔬🌎🚩 Complement, not substitute: broadening income with North American stability (Janus Henderson Investors) - When building an income portfolio, familiarity often feels reassuring. But markets are global, and resilience increasingly comes from looking beyond a single region. Here we explore how exposure to North American equities - and the structural strengths of the US market - can provide stability, diversification and dependable income, while sitting comfortably alongside other regional holdings.

  • 🇺🇸 Lamar Advertising

  • 🇺🇸 PNC

  • 🇺🇸 Morgan Stanley

  • 🇺🇸 Xcel Energy

  • 🇺🇸 Enbridge

• 🔬🌐🚩 Big Pharma’s New Playbook (Harding Loevner) - The era of mass-marketed drugs and mega-deals is over. Now, the battle is heating up over specialist doctors, insurance coverage, and differentiated treatments.

  • 🇺🇸 Pfizer

  • 🇺🇸 Elanco

  • 🇬🇧 Haleon

  • 🇺🇸 Zoetis

  • 🇺🇸 Seagen

  • 🇨🇭 Roche

  • 🇨🇭 Novartis

  • 🇬🇧 AstraZeneca

  • 🇯🇵 Chugai Pharmaceutical

  • 🇨🇭 Galderma

  • 🇫🇷 Sanofi

  • 🇺🇸 Regeneron

  • 🇺🇸 Bristol Myers Squibb

• 🔬🌐 Includes a “10 Largest Stocks Change Frequently From Decade To Decade” table: The Messy Aftermath of Concentrated Markets (Hartford Funds) - The story of concentrated markets has historically had a very unhappy ending.

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New Asia Fund Documents & Research

• 🗄️🌏 The January monthly factsheet (detailed economic and portfolio) for Abrdn Asia Focus PLC (LON: AAS), a high conviction portfolio of Asian small caps, discussed or mentioned:

  • 📈 [Not owning hurt performance] 🇹🇼 Nanya Technology Corp (TPE: 2408 / OTCMKTS: NNYAF) - R&D, design, manufacturing & sales of DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory), ranking #4 in the global DRAM industry. 🇼 🏷️

  • 📈🇹🇼 Chroma Ate Inc (TPE: 2360) - Taiwanese automated testing company. Semiconductor testing for AI-artificial intelligence. 🇼 🏷️

  • 📈🇰🇷 LEENO Industrial (KOSDAQ: 058470) - Testing components for IC production, test & analysis.

  • 📈🇰🇷 Hansol Chemical (KRX: 014680) - Fine chemicals + display, semiconductor & LiB materials. 🇼 🏷️

  • 📉🇨🇳 Zhejiang Shuanghuan Driveline Co Ltd (SHE: 002472) - Gears, transmission & drive components.

  • 📈🇰🇷 Classys (KRX: 214150) - Medical aesthetics technologies w/ market share positioning in 55+ countries (Europe, Australia, Brazil & Singapore). 🏷️

  • 🏧🇮🇳 Karur Vysya Bank (NSE: KARURVYSYA / BOM: 590003) - Financial institution offering a gamut of financial services. 🇼 🏷️

  • 🏧🌐 ASMPT (HKG: 0522 / FRA: AY7A / OTCMKTS: ASMVF) - Chip packaging equipment maker. HK founded. Singapore HQ.

• 🗄️🌏 Fidelity Asian Values Plc (LON: FAS)’s January monthly factsheet (short economic and portfolio review) once again noted that the fund has a significant percentage of the portfolio in Hong Kong which helped relative returns along with exposure to materials and consumer discretionary while security selection in Indonesia weighed on returns.

• 🔬🌏 APAC Financial Markets Spotlight – February 2026 (FTSE Russell) - This report, published quarterly, delves into the major macroeconomic, fixed income, equity and FX market events shaping the APAC financial markets, leveraging our exclusive databases and platforms such as FTSE Russell indices across asset classes, LSEG Workspace, Lipper fund flows and many more.

• 🔬🌏 Asia-Pacific: the evolving income powerhouse (Janus Henderson Investors) [Infographic]