EM Fund Stock Picks & Country Commentaries (July 14, 2024)
AI ideas from emerging markets, European small + midcap ideas, Latin America opportunities, Mexico logistics + industrials, overlooked FMs, various quarterly reviews + webinars or updates, etc.
As of early July, new June factsheets and quarterly updates or webinars along with new research have become available:
📈 This abrdn piece discussed five interesting non-emerging market European stocks - Sweden based safety solutions for automated and robotic production lines maker Troax Group AB (STO: TROAX / FRA: 5TOA); Germany based commercial kitchen stock Rational AG (ETR: RAA / FRA: RAA / OTCMKTS: RTLLF); Norway manufacturer (of products from Lignin) Borregaard ASA (OSE: BRG / FRA: BO4 / OTCMKTS: BRRDF); Dutch semiconductor packaging group BE Semiconductor Industries NV (AMS: BESI / FRA: BSI / OTCMKTS: BESIY); and global health, nutrition, and beauty stock DSM-Firmenich AG (AMS: DSFIR / FRA: ZX6 / OTCMKTS: DSMFF): 🔬 European equities: football frenzy - As Europe’s finest football players compete in this summer’s Euros, we’re excited to spotlight some of the standout firms powering our own small-cap and sustainable equity strategies.
📈 This abrdn piece discussed Polish supermarket chain Dino Polska (WSE: DNP / FRA: 5Y2 / OTCMKTS: DNOPY), Italian luxury fashion brand Brunello Cucinelli (BIT: BC / FRA: 8BU / 8BU0 / OTCMKTS: BCUCY / BCUCF), and USA safety equipment maker MSA Safety (NYSE: MSA): 🔬 UN SMEs day: why we’re celebrating small- and mid-caps - We look at a few of the small- and mid-cap firms we think are worth celebrating.
The following funds or fund managers have new factsheets, commentaries, research pieces, podcasts or webinars that would interest investors in Asia:
abrdn has this short piece: Supply chain diversification: Who benefits in Asia? - Between a pandemic, escalating trade tensions, and a war, companies are making their supply chains more resilient, creating a plethora of opportunities in Asia.
📈 AFC Asia Frontier Fund’s June newsletter (detailed economic and portfolio) mentioned a number of stocks without mentioning their actual names. It noted that Blackrock announced the closure of its iShares Frontier and Select EM ETF (approximately US$400 million of assets under management) meaning there will be no pure frontier market ETFs for investors.
📈🇻🇳 AFC Vietnam Fund’s June newsletter mentioned that local individual investor participation in the Vietnamese market has increased significantly over the last four years, but it remains relatively small compared to other regional markets such as South Korea, Taiwan, or Thailand (Note this recent piece from the Lumen Vietnam Fund blog: Around 8% of Vietnam’s population have accounts for securities trading - Domestic individual investors hold more than 7.98 million accounts for securities trading as of the end of June, or 8% of Vietnam’s population…) Vietnam’s largest electronics and mobile phone store chain Mobile World Group (HOSE: MWG) and Mercedes dealer Hang Xanh Motors Service JSC (HOSE: HAX) plus the Vietnamese insurance market was discussed in some detail.
📈🇮🇶 AFC Iraq Fund’s June newsletter (economic and portfolio) discussed in detail the increased usage of the banking system as a means of payments instead of cash e.g. the significance of the increased numbers of bank accounts, bank cards, and e-wallets for the use of performing banking transactions through ATMs and POS.
📈🇺🇿 AFC Uzbekistan Fund’s June newsletter discussed how Uzbekistan is at the geographical heart of the new multipolar map being drawn between Russia, China, the Middle East, Turkey, and Iran plus how the country is benefitting from aggressive Chinese investments. The newsletter also noted how global investors are blinded by the bubble in Nvidia stock while the collapsing breadth in the S&P 500 has them thinking about an eventual broad tech correction (like in 2000) which would be positive for many frontier markets.