🌐 Emerging Market Stock Picks (May 2025)

Plus asking DeepSeek for some insights about the Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, UAE, South Africa & Mexico stocks covered in this post, etc.

Jun 07, 2025

∙ Paid

As mentioned in the past, I have been experimenting with mostly Chinese AI services and have found that while they are great at extracting and organizing data/info you give them, they often come up with wrong or unverifiable answers to other questions.

I uploaded this lengthy post covering a number of emerging market stocks to DeepSeek and asked it a few questions or for insights about the stocks covered:

Q: What are the average country Forward Annual Dividend Yields among the stocks mentioned in this report?

Here are the average Forward Annual Dividend Yields for the countries mentioned in the report, based on the stocks listed:
Southeast Asia
Indonesia (ID): ~6.5%
Malaysia (MY): ~1.85%
Singapore (SG): ~4.8%
Thailand (TH): ~4.3%
Middle East
United Arab Emirates (AE): 11.00% (only Investcorp Capital listed)
Africa
South Africa (ZA): ~3.2%
Latin America
Mexico (MX): ~2.9%
Key Observations:
Highest Yield: UAE (11.00%, but only 1 stock) and Indonesia (~6.5%).
Lowest Yield: Malaysia (~1.85%) due to lower-yielding stocks like IHH Healthcare.
Southeast Asia Dominance: Indonesia and Thailand offer higher average yields (~4-6.5%), while Singapore balances growth and income (~4.8%).
Latin America: Mexico’s average is dragged down by growth-focused stocks like MercadoLibre (0% yield).

Note that its harder for most foreign investors to access Indonesian stocks while the Rupiah seems to steadily depreciate against the USD while the Thai Baht and Singapore Dollar seem to be more stable (at least to me when compared to the Ringgit, Philippine Peso, etc.)

My next question for DeepSeek gave a more complex answer:

Q: What are the average Price/Book (Current) and Forward P/E among the stocks mentioned in this report and what insights can you give about valuations?

Some insights gained:

My last question for DeepSeek was even more complicated to answer:

Q: What further insights can you add about particular stocks from the headlines of reports/articles (denoted by 🔬or 📰) or screenshots of tweets included in the report?

Some of DeepSeek’s conclusions:

And:

Of course, a human analyst will still need to look closer at the above conclusions to determine whether they are justified or not. Nevertheless, it does show the usefulness of these sorts of AI offerings to help wade through alot of data or noise…

Specific stocks covered in this fourth post (with a focus on some countries or stocks that are hopefully more accessible to retail investors via Interactive Brokers or via a foreign listing - see our first posts - 🌐 Emerging Market Stock Picks (Mid-March 2025), 🌐 Emerging Market Stock Picks (Early April 2025) & 🌐 Emerging Market Stock Picks (April 2025):

[Note: On desktop browsers, an autogenerated table of contents will appear on the left side linked to each stock. I will add those links below after publishing/emailing this post… Access to some DBS Insights Direct pieces might be restricted depending on your location or browser.]

And as always, this post is provided for informational purposes only (and to make your life easier…). It does not constitute investment advice and/or a recommendation…

📈🗄️ Fund documents / updates; ⚠️ Disclosures or restricted access e.g. based on your location, investor status, etc.; 🇼 Wikipedia page; 🔬 Research analysis (including articles/blog posts from fund managers, etc.); 🎥 Video; 🎙️ Podcast; 🎬 Webinar; 📰 Newspaper/magazine article; 📯 Press release; 💻 Substack/blog/website article; ✅ Our own posts; 🗃️ Linked archived article; ⏰ Upcoming webinar or event.

Frontier & Emerging Market Stock Index

Asia

East Asia

🇨🇳 China / 🇭🇰 Hong Kong / 🇲🇴 Macau

Note: For more China & Hong Kong stock picks or ideas, see our monthly China & Hong Kong Stock Picks posts…

🇰🇷 Korea

Note: For more Korean stock picks or ideas, see our monthly Korean Stock Picks posts…

🇹🇼 Taiwan

Note: I have note seen any good Twitter/Substack/blog accounts or (free) equity research providers with good coverage of Taiwanese stocks (at least not in English). Please contact me if you know of any…

SE Asia

🇮🇩 Indonesia

Indosat Ooredo Hutchison Tbk PT

🔬 Indosat Ooredo Hutchison Tbk PT (ISATIJ) - Indosat Ooredo Hutchison (ISAT IJ): Street projections set to rise, offers huge upside potential (DBS Insights Direct) 30 May 2025 ⚠️

🇮🇩 PT Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison Tbk (IDX: ISAT / FRA: IDO1 / OTCMKTS: PTITF) - Wireless services for mobile phones + broadband internet lines for homes. 🇼 🏷️
Price/Book (Current): 1.93
Forward P/E: 12.67 / Forward Annual Dividend Yield: 4.03% (Yahoo! Finance)

Bank Rakyat Indonesia (Persero) Tbk PT

🔬 Bank Rakyat Indonesia (Persero) Tbk PT (BBRIIJ) - Elevated provision and opex continue to impede BRI's earnings. (DBS Insights Direct) 29 May 2025 ⚠️

🇮🇩🏛️ Bank Rakyat Indonesia Tbk PT (IDX: BBRI / FRA: BYRA / OTCMKTS: BKRKF / BKRKY) - One of the largest state-owned banks in Indonesia. 🇼 🏷️
Price/Book (Current): 2.06
Forward P/E: 10.45 / Forward Annual Dividend Yield: 10.17% (Yahoo! Finance)

Bank Tabungan Negara (Persero) Tbk PT

🔬 Bank Tabungan Negara (Persero) Tbk PT (BBTNIJ) - Inline result but cautious on the mortgage segment (DBS Insights Direct) 29 May 2025 ⚠️

🇮🇩 Bank Tabungan Negara (Persero) Tbk PT (IDX: BBTN / FRA: TA2) - Personal, business & sharia banking. 🇼 🏷️
Price/Book (Current): 0.48
Forward P/E: 4.55 / Forward Annual Dividend Yield: 4.68% (Yahoo! Finance)

Bank Mandiri (Persero) Tbk PT

🔬 Bank Mandiri (Persero) Tbk PT (BMRIIJ) - <News alert> Bank Mandiri (BMRI IJ) 4M25: Inline 4M25 result (DBS Insights Direct) 27 May 2025 ⚠️

🌏🏛️ Bank Mandiri Tbk PT (IDX: BMRI / FRA: PQ9 / OTCMKTS: PPERF) - Wholesale & Retail segments. 🇼 🏷️
Price/Book (Current): 1.86
Forward P/E: 8.22 / Forward Annual Dividend Yield: 9.19% (Yahoo! Finance)

Bank Negara Indonesia (Persero) Tbk PT

🔬 Bank Negara Indonesia (Persero) Tbk PT (BBNIIJ) - Muted earnings growth despite intact cost of credit (DBS Insights Direct) 27 May 2025 ⚠️

🌐🏛️ Bank Negara Indonesia (IDX: BBNI / FRA: BKE1 / OTCMKTS: PBNNF / PTBRY) - Originally established as Indonesia’s central Bank. 🇼 🏷️
Price/Book (Current): 0.98
Forward P/E: 7.21 / Forward Annual Dividend Yield: 8.46% (Yahoo! Finance)

Emerging Market Skeptic