I'm going to skip the flowery prose and simply state that the recent pullback in shares of America Movil
Shares of Latin America's largest wireless player have fallen 15% from their October highs. This means that America Movil's shares trade at a mere 14 times projected 2008 earnings -- a whopping 56% discount to analysts' expected long-term growth rate for the company -- while offering a 4% dividend yield.
I know, I know: Investors tend to be worried about catching the proverbial "falling knife," especially when the talking heads on CNBC are waxing poetic about a global recession, but it's not like economic growth in Latin America is falling off a cliff. According to the International Monetary Fund's recent World Economic Outlook report, Latin America's gross domestic product is expected to grow at a 4.3% clip in 2008.
America Movil certainly has the scale to profit from the strength of the growing regional economies, with more than 143 million cellular subscribers across the 16 counties in which it operates. And the cellular penetration rate in Latin America only recently crossed 55%, well below the 80%-plus rate of the U.S., leaving ample room for growth.
One last point before I hang up: America Movil recently finished upgrading its networks to the Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) standard, meaning it can offer faster (and more lucrative) wireless data services, as illustrated by its recent partnership with Yahoo!
All in all, I believe that America Movil is one call that investors can't afford to miss.
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