Emerging Market Stock Pick Tear Sheets (April 2023)

Betterware de Mexico, Noah Holdings, Banco Santander-Chile, MINISO Group, MapMyIndia, Persistent Systems, NetDragon Websoft, Gotion High-tech, Anadolu Efes and more emerging market stock picks.

Apr 30, 2023

This post is a compilation of links and briefs to our (so-far) free and short (1-3 min max reads or graphic-chart skims) EM Stock Pick Tear Sheets (separate section) for the month of April 2023. Some stocks covered in April have been mentioned in fund manager podcasts (e.g. Bairong Inc, MapMyIndia, Persistent Systems, etc.) while others have been in the news for other reasons (e.g. gimmicks, news, earnings, etc.).

While they are in a separate “Section” that can apparently be emailed separately, I don’t want to flood ALL email in-boxes (and I am still a little confused on Substack’s back-end functions for emailing and sending Threads to the app, can’t be sent separately, and who will receive them…).

Moving forward, some Threads may become paywalled (e.g. Threads about individual fund holdings covered in our Tuesday posts). Substack has many useful features (or potential features they should offer…) and they are still tweaking things - including Notes (basically Twitter w/o the B.S. clutter that readers can also use to follow investment writers-Substacks-each other).

Here are quick summaries of all April EM Stock Pick Tear Sheets (NOTE: P/Es and dividend yields are from the time of publishing and have probably since changed…):

Banco Santander-Chile (NYSE: BSAC): Not Another SVB or First Republic Bank

Banco Santander-Chile (NYSE: BSAC), part of the Santander group and majority controlled by Santander Spain, is the largest bank in Chile by loans and the second largest by deposits. The Bank just reported earnings on Friday. However, some of the funds (who own its shares) we cover in our Tuesday posts have mixed views about Chile in the wake of recent political turmoil, outflows from pension funds during COVID (which might lower future consumption), and the recent lithium nationalization announcements.

P/E (Finviz): 8.97 / P/E (Yahoo! Finance): 9.16
Dividend Yield (Finviz): 6.53% / Forward Dividend & Yield (Yahoo! Finance): 6.53%

TOP Financial Group (NASDAQ: TOP): Hong Kong's Latest Crazy Meme Stock

If you want to know how ridiculous so-called meme trades can get, TOP Financial Group (NASDAQ: TOP) is a Hong Kong stock incorporated in the Cayman Island that does not directly hold equity interests in its online brokerage operating subsidiaries (plus has just $5.2M in revenue and $1.8M in net income for the last six months they reported financials). Shares were up as much as 900% last week.

And apparently, its not the only “meme trade” among US-listed Hong Kong right now…

P/E (Google Finance): n/a / P/E (Yahoo! Finance): 284.76

Betterware de Mexico (NASDAQ: BWMX): Mexico's Direct Selling Powerhouse With Big Expansion Plans

Betterware de Mexico (NASDAQ: BWMX) is Mexico’s leading Direct-to-Consumer household products company who plans to further expand its asset-light model in the USA, as well as target Central and South America. They just released Q1 earnings.

P/E (Finviz): 10.68 / P/E (Yahoo! Finance): 10.63
Dividend Yield (Finviz): 7.97% / Forward Dividend & Yield (Yahoo! Finance): 8.20%

Hibiscus Petroleum (KLSE: HIBISCS): Profitably Enhancing Production from Mature Assets

Hibiscus Petroleum Berhad (KLSE: HIBISCS) is Malaysia’s first listed independent oil and gas exploration and production company focused on enhancing production from mature assets safely and profitably in regions of their geographic focus: United Kingdom, Malaysia, Australia, and Vietnam. Its been mentioned by another Substack and in a podcast.

P/E (Google Finance): 2.64 / P/E (Yahoo! Finance): N/A
Dividend Yield (Google Finance): 1.73% / Forward Dividend & Yield (Yahoo! Finance): N/A

Noah Holdings (NYSE: NOAH): A Chinese Wealth Management Firm Facing a "Crisis of Confidence" in the Sector

Noah Holdings Limited (NYSE: NOAH / HKEX: 6686) is a leading and pioneer wealth management service provider in China offering comprehensive one-stop advisory services on global investment and asset allocation primarily for high net worth investors. However, FT just republished a Nikkei Asia article entitled, China’s wealth management sector reels from ‘crisis of confidence’ (Retail investors sell in panic after ‘risk-free’ investments tumble in value).

P/E (Finviz): 7.61 / P/E (Google Finance): n/a / P/E (Yahoo! Finance): 7.72

Gotion High-tech Co (SHE: 002074 / FRA: 24U0): The EV Battery Maker Causing a Stir in Michigan

Gotion High-tech Co (SHE: 002074 / FRA: 24U0) researches, develops, manufactures and markets lithium EV batteries with Volkswagen owning a 30% stake. With plans to expand a China-only operation globally, Gotion High-tech’s subsidiary recently made negative headlines in the USA:

I think we will be hearing more about this stock and its battery technology (see the videos included in the post) in the coming years - especially if they list on another major exchange outside of Mainland-China.

P/E (Google Finance): 237.61 / P/E (Yahoo! Finance): 228.58
Dividend Yield (Google Finance): 0.37% / Forward Dividend & Yield (Yahoo! Finance): 0.36%

Anadolu Efes (IST: AEFES / FRA: EF41 / OTCMKTS: AEBZY): Bridging the East-West Divide With Beer & Soft Drinks

Anadolu Efes Biracilik ve Malt SanayiiAS (IST: AEFES / FRA: EF41 / OTCMKTS: AEBZY) makes more than two-thirds of its net sales in international markets and is Europe’s 5th and the world’s 9th largest brewer by production volume. Aside from Turkey (note that Turkish elections are scheduled for May 14th), the Company has operations in Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Russia and Ukraine.

P/E (Google Finance): 10.85 / P/E (Yahoo! Finance): 10.85
Dividend Yield (Google Finance): 3.17% / Forward Dividend & Yield (Yahoo! Finance): 3.37%

NetDragon Websoft (HKG: 0777 / FRA: 3ND): First Stock to Try the AI-CEO Gimmick (Ahead of a NYSE Spinoff-Listing)

Last August, online gaming and education stock NetDragon Websoft (HKG: 0777 / FRA: 3ND) appointed Ms. Tang Yu, an AI-powered virtual humanoid robot, as the Rotating CEO of its flagship subsidiary, Fujian NetDragon Websoft Co., Ltd.

Obviously, the attention grabbing PR stunt got some investor, media (Should we automate the CEO?, AI-powered 'boss', staff getting along thanks to HK-listed enterprise, etc.), and public attention. That, along with building a bizarre Star Trek themed HQ (A Chinese tycoon spent US$100 million on a Star Trek HQ: NetDragon Websoft’s sci-fi-obsessed Liu Dejian replicated the Starship Enterprise for his offices – and just appointed an AI CEO).

The Company also recently announced plans to spin off its overseas education business into an existing NYSE listing.

P/E (Google Finance): 8.41 / P/E (Yahoo! Finance): 5.93
Dividend Yield (Google Finance): 5.40% / Forward Dividend & Yield (Yahoo! Finance): 5.56%

Persistent Systems (NSE: PERSISTENT / BOM: 533179): One of India's Fastest Growing IT Firms You Probably Have Not Heard Of

Persistent Systems (NSE: PERSISTENT / BOM: 533179) is a digital engineering and enterprise modernization partner set up in 1990 by an Indian repat who worked for HP Labs. Despite the tech spending slowdown, Persistent Systems is still growing: 16.1% revenue CAGR from it’s IPO to FY2022 and 23.5% revenue CAGR between FY2020 and FY2022.

The Company is owned by a few funds covered in our Tuesday posts plus was recently profiled in a Fund update webinar-podcast.

P/E (Google Finance): 38.35 / P/E (Yahoo! Finance): 38.61
Dividend Yield (Google Finance): 0.76% / Forward Dividend & Yield (Yahoo! Finance): 39.00 (0.89%)

MINISO Group Holding (NYSE: MNSO): Asia's Notorious Copycat Retailer

Lifestyle products retailer MINISO Group Holding (NYSE: MNSO) copied Japanese retail chains or brands Uniqlo, Muji and Daiso - and have arguably done it better than the originals. In fact, They have successfully entered 100 countries and regions and opened more than 5,000 stores around the world, covering the core business districts of world-renowned cities such as New York, Los Angeles, Paris, London, Dubai, Sydney, and Istanbul.

P/E (Finviz): 34.03
Dividend Yield (Finviz): 11.09%

MapMyIndia (NSE: MAPMYINDIA / BOM: 543425): Maps Every Door in India

CE Info Systems Ltd (MapMyIndia) (NSE: MAPMYINDIA / BOM: 543425) is the world's leading provider of digital maps, geospatial software & location-based IoT technologies. They make maps to help Uber, delivery vehicles, etc. drivers find your door in India.

The Company was recently profiled in a Fund update webinar-podcast.

P/E: Google Finance 54.67 and Yahoo Finance 54.75

Bairong Inc (HKG: 6608 / FRA: 6B5): AI/Digital Transformation Services for Chinese Banks

Small cap Bairong Inc (HKG: 6608 / FRA: 6B5) provides AI and digital intelligence and digital transformation services to Chinese banks (for security, credit evaluation, etc. purposes).

The Company was recently profiled in a podcast interview with a fund manager. However and as mentioned in our April 17th post, Chinese state media have warned of an AI-bubble - meaning an AI-stock crackdown may be planned or is already underway.

NOTE: Google Finance (P/E: 22.64) and Yahoo! Finance (P/E: 4.19) have conflicting P/Es.

South African Dividend Stock List Infographic

As stated before, South Africa has many well managed stocks who’s management teams know how to deliver results in troubled-difficult environments. This infographic lists a number of top South African dividend stocks.

Emerging Market Skeptic

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