Stocks That Will Do Wonders for Your Portfolio

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I'll cut right to the chase: International stocks will do wonders for your portfolio.

If you're anything like me -- a U.S.-based retail investor looking for stocks to help build a comfortable retirement nest egg -- you need to look abroad for stock investments.

Perhaps you already have ...
It's not because you need them for diversification. My colleague Todd Wenning showed that the correlation between U.S. and foreign stocks has become quite close. No, you need them for the incredible growth potential they pack -- growth that, in some cases, you won't find anywhere here in the United States.

Consider these incredible performers in 2007:

Country	Index	2007 Return
China	Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite	96.7%
India	Bombay Stock Exchange	47.2%
Brazil	Bovespa	43.7%
Hong Kong	Hang Seng Index	39.3%
South Korea	Seoul Composite	32.3%
Germany	DAX 30	22.3%
Singapore	Straits Times Index	16.6%
Mexico	Indice de Precios y Cotizaciones	11.7%
U.S.	Nasdaq	9.8%
Canada	Toronto Stock Exchange	7.2%

For comparison, the S&P 500 came in just 13th with a 3.5% return.

The one-year performance of some individual equities was also jaw-dropping:

Stock	Country	2007 Returns
Fushi Copperweld	China	394%
DryShips (Nasdaq: DRYS)	Greece	330%
Mechel (NYSE: MTL)	Russia	297%
TBS International (Nasdaq: TBSI)	Bermuda	278%
Baidu.com (Nasdaq: BIDU)	China	246%
Harbin Electric (Nasdaq: HRBN)	China	222%
Potash Corp. (NYSE: POT)	Canada	201%

Source: Capital IQ, a division of Standard & Poor's.

There are many pearls to uncover
If you'd listened to the media up through the beginning of 2008, you may have had the impression that China was the only hot economy. (Maybe we'll hear similar things next week when the Olympics kick off.) Everywhere, it seemed, were reports on China's rapid GDP growth and the country's huge increases in demand for steel, telecommunications, concrete, oil, and even travel. One headline I encountered went so far as to claim that "China May be Retirees' Lifeline."

While China did crowd the list of top-performing "world stocks" in 2007, you could have beaten the Shanghai exchange with any one of 27 non-Chinese international stocks, including some familiar names like Blackberry maker Research In Motion (Nasdaq: RIMM), up 166% for the year.

Where do we go now?
Looking at top-performing markets or individual stocks may be interesting, but it doesn't tell us where we should invest now.

Predictably, what was good last year hasn't been good this year. It was a similar story the previous year: Whereas Peru, Venezuela, and Vietnam were the top three performers of 2006, they fell to 14th, 79th, and 22nd place, respectively, toward the end of last year. While China was good to investors, returning more than 95% in 2007 and roughly 130% in 2006, it has been hit hard in 2008.

And even though the index has struggled, some individual companies have been brought down to levels so appealing that Motley Fool Global Gains advisor Bill Mann called the recent sell-off in China the investment opportunity of a lifetime.

So the lesson isn't that you should -- or shouldn't -- invest in China ... necessarily. The point is that international stocks will do wonders for your portfolio. Ignoring them is unwise.

The Foolish bottom line
For too long, adding an EAFE (Europe, Asia, Far East) index fund was as close as one could get to going global. These days you can find regional and even country-specific funds.

Investing in international stocks is no different from investing in domestic stocks. Don't try to predict the next hot trend. Instead:

• Invest in businesses, not stocks
• Pay close to attention to valuation -- i.e., don't overpay for a story
• Stay diversified
• Be patient, and have fun

Just promise me you won't try to predict the next big winner from the headlines. Focus on fundamentals, competitive advantages, growth prospects, and, as ever, valuation.

If it's stock ideas that you need, our Global Gains team recently returned from a research trip to Asia. With a free 30-day trial, you can read all their research from that trip and find out their five favorite companies for right now.

Fool contributor Rich Duprey does not have a financial position in any of the stocks mentioned in this article. Baidu.com is a Motley Fool Rule Breakers selection. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.