The recent stock market rally has sent the S&P 500 up more than 20% since the end of August. If we were at Busch Gardens riding a roller coaster, we'd be getting ready for a stomach-churning drop after such a rapid climb. But we're not on Alpengeist, and I'm not terribly concerned about an imminent plummet.
However, the climb has taken many stocks that were very cheap and made them ... well, not so cheap any more. But Bloomberg may have an answer for investors that are still looking for cheap in this now-not-as-cheap market. Specifically, an article this week highlighted Norway, Italy, and Mexico as three of the cheapest markets in the world.
Late last year, Bloomberg similarly highlighted Russia as a market where investors could find bargain stocks. Of course, Russia brings a whole mess of baggage with it, much of which can be filed under the heading "political risk." Norway and Italy share the risk of European debt problems, while the drug wars in Mexico are definitely concerning, but these markets may be a bit easier for U.S.-based investors to digest than Russia.
Of course, as with Russia, investors who prefer to stick with stocks listed on U.S. exchanges don't have an overwhelming number of stocks to choose from. A search for all U.S.-listed companies in Norway, Italy, and Mexico with a market cap of $500 million or more turned up just 18 possibilities. Here are a few that jump out as potential value buys:
|
Company
|
Country
|
Market Cap
|
Trailing Price-to-Earnings Ratio
|
|
Eni (NYSE: E )
|
Italy
|
$85 billion
|
10.3
|
|
Statoil (NYSE: STO )
|
Norway
|
$78 billion
|
12.6
|
|
Telecom Italia (NYSE: TI )
|
Italy
|
$25 billion
|
8.7
|
|
Telefonos de Mexico (NYSE: TMX )
|
Mexico
|
$15 billion
|
10.5
|
|
Homex Development (NYSE: HXM )
|
Mexico
|
$1.8 billion
|
11.7
|
Source: Capital IQ, a division of Standard & Poor's.
Mexico's (or should I say Carlos Slim's?) massive America Movil (NYSE: AMX ) is probably worth keeping an eye on, too. Though its trailing price-to-earnings ratio is nearly 18, earnings estimates put its forward P/E at a much more attractive 13.7.
Of course for investors that are willing to venture off the U.S. exchanges, there are lot of additional options -- including Italian bank Intesa Sanpaolo, which is changing hands at 11.8 times trailing earnings, and Norwegian telecom provider Telenor, which has a P/E of just over 10. Either way, though, you might want to take a closer look beyond the U.S. for attractive values.
Also looking outside the U.S. borders, my fellow Fool Jordan DiPietro questions whether there's a buying opportunity in European banks.
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