Safer Way to Play Emerging Markets

Emerging market growth may have slowed, but the are still outperforming developed markets. Get access to the expanding middle class through these US stocks

Emma Wall 5 December, 2013 | 4:58PM
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Emma Wall: Hello and welcome to this U.S. Investing Week Special. I’m Emma Wall. And here with me today is Morningstar analyst, Damien Conover. Hello Damien.

Damien Conover: Hi Emma. Thanks for having me.

Wall: So today, we are going to talk about emerging market revenues, but through developed market listed stocks, because emerging markets have not done very well over the last couple of years, have they, whereas the U.S. stock market, up 30% so far this year.

Conover: Yeah, I think that’s a great way to get exposure to emerging markets to go through some of these firms that have much more exposure to the developed markets, but yet also have a large exposure to the emerging markets which is growing rapidly and I think it’s important to have exposure to some of those geographies.

Wall: And what’s your first stock today?

Conover: So the first one I talk about is Sanofi (SNY). Sanofi has one of the leading exposures of the big pharmaceutical firms to emerging markets, very well entrenched in vaccines, diabetes. You know those are two therapeutic areas that emerging markets really want to have exposure to. So we think the stock is undervalued and a big piece of the reason why we think it’s undervalued is the exposure to the emerging markets.

Wall: And what emerging market is it exposed to?

Conover: Well, it’s really across the board. So, it’s Brazil, it’s Russia, it’s India. But most importantly it’s China. China is in our view the most important emerging market and Sanofi has very strong entrenchment there which should bode well for the stock.

Wall: And what’s your second stock?

Conover: The next stock to talk about is Teva (TEVA). Teva is a stock that has a lot of risk overhang with a patent loss on Copaxone, one of its key products. But one of the strategies Teva is employing to get beyond the Copaxone patent loss is its exposure to emerging markets in the branded generics market, which we believe Teva is one of the best firms positioned to take advantage of the growing demand for branded generics in the emerging markets.

Wall: So this patent cliff, that is not something to be concerned about?

Conover: It is to be concerned about. But we think it’s factored into the stocks valuations. Stocks trading very, very low on a P/E basis and we think investors have overly focused on the patent loss, but not thinking about some of the strategies we think will do quite well for Teva over a longer term including the exposure to the emerging markets.

Wall: And what about in the UK, is there a stock that displays these characteristics?

Conover: Yeah, the stock that we like, that’s more UK based and also has good exposure to the emerging markets is GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). They’ve run into some challenges in China, we think they'll get through that. But it’s not just China that they have exposure to but a lot of the other really important emerging market. So GlaxoSmithKline well entrenched in the respiratory disease franchise and we expect that to bode very, very well for them in the emerging markets.

Wall: Also pays quite a nice dividend, isn’t it?

Conover: Yeah, great dividend, secure dividend a nice way to get some return in a market environment where it’s hard to get those yields.

Wall: Thank you very much Damien

Conover: Thanks for having me Emma.

Wall: This is Emma Wall for Morningstar. Thank you for watching.

The information contained within is for educational and informational purposes ONLY. It is not intended nor should it be considered an invitation or inducement to buy or sell a security or securities noted within nor should it be viewed as a communication intended to persuade or incite you to buy or sell security or securities noted within. Any commentary provided is the opinion of the author and should not be considered a personalised recommendation. The information contained within should not be a person's sole basis for making an investment decision. Please contact your financial professional before making an investment decision.

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Securities Mentioned in Article

Security NamePriceChange (%)Morningstar
Rating
GSK PLC1,640.50 GBX0.28Rating
Sanofi SA ADR49.58 USD6.37Rating
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd ADR13.15 USD1.04Rating

About Author

Emma Wall  is former Senior International Editor for Morningstar

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