If pressed, could you tell me the country that offered the best stock returns in 2006? What about any members of the top 10?
It's harder than you probably think, because they're not the countries you might expect.
You call that a bull market?
Investors rejoiced as the Dow crossed 12,500 in 2006, yet the Dow gained just 16% last year. While that's an impressive number on the surface, it's abysmal when compared with the rest of the world's equities.
Without further ado, the top 10 performers:
|
Country |
Return* |
|---|---|
|
Peru |
168% |
|
Venezuela |
156% |
|
Vietnam |
145% |
|
China |
121% |
|
Russia |
92% |
|
Costa Rica |
77% |
|
Botswana |
74% |
|
Croatia |
61% |
|
Serbia & Montenegro |
58% |
|
Morocco |
57% |
This list is incredible to me. Croatia? Botswana? Peru?
We can learn a few things from this list. First, if you're an American investor, it's absolutely crucial to be invested abroad. The potential returns to be had there are too good to pass up. Second, the best returns often come from obscure places -- not from the countries we read about every day in the papers. And finally, there is some risk involved in investing internationally. For example, with President Hugo Chavez leading a nationalization push right now, Venezuela isn't exactly a friend to foreign investors.
Buy what others aren't
The main lesson here is old hat: To get the best returns, you need to be willing (and able) to look where other investors aren't. That's why the 10 best domestic stocks of the past 10 years were all small caps.
See, huge numbers of investors and analysts watch large companies and popular markets. Goldman Sachs
In other words, they're probably pretty efficiently priced.
You'll get the best returns, however, by finding market inefficiencies. And while another 1,600 investors are covering Corning
The Foolish bottom line
That's where your opportunity lies as a Foolish investor. But as I said, international investing is not without risks. If you'd like some help finding worthy international investing ideas that you may never have heard of, click here to try our new Global Gains service free for 30 days. There is no obligation to subscribe.
Also, starting tomorrow a team of Global Gains analysts will be visiting Argentina, Chile, and Brazil to find the best investment ideas those countries have to offer. To get our real-time reports from the field (for free), simply provide your email in the field below.
