By Paul Goodwin, Editor of Cabot China & Emerging Markets Report
From Cabot Wealth Advisory 11/3/11
While a few leaders are starting to surface in emerging markets, we're nowhere near anything like a real bull market. The sensitivity to bad news exhibited by developed market stocks is even higher for their emerging counterparts. But I have been following China Mobile as a long-term investment.
China Mobile (CHL) is the dominant wireless service provider in China, with well over a half billion subscribers. China Mobile became a powerhouse by rolling up the old leading provincial wireless networks and turning them into a national network.
The company has hit some obstacles, including slowing revenue growth from the heady days when it was still gobbling up competitors and efforts by the Chinese government to lessen its dominance.
Still, double-digit revenue in the past five quarters (and 12 of the last 16) isn't bad at all, and after-tax profit margins haven't dipped below 20% for years.
The problem with CHL is that its stock price is as flat as a squirrel on the freeway, with rock-solid support at 44 stretching back to late 2009 and resistance in the low 50s.
On the other hand, that kind of calmness can seem like a good thing when markets are careening around like kids on a Halloween sugar buzz. And when you add in the stock's handsome 3.8% forward dividend rate and a trailing P/E ratio of just 10, there's a lot to like about China Mobile.
Personally, as a growth investor, I'm waiting for some move on the company's part to get its stock out of its straitjacket trading range. But there's real strength here that might interest investors with a value-oriented long-term approach.
You could buy CHL here and hope for the best or you could check out Cabot China & Emerging Markets Report, the top source for the best stocks in the world's fastest-growing economies. The Report has been named one of the top-performing newsletters since its inception in 2004 and there's a lot more where that great growth came from! Get started today.
Paul Goodwin
Emerging Markets Specialist, Analyst and Editor of Cabot China & Emerging Markets Report
A researcher and writer for over 30 years, Paul Goodwin has been a member of the Cabot investment team and editor of
Cabot China & Emerging Markets Report since 2005. Under Paul’s stewardship, Hulbert Financial Digest rated Cabot China & Emerging Markets Report the number-one-rated newsletter of 2006 with a 78.6% gain for the year, the number-one-rated newsletter of 2007 with a 74.1% return, and the top-performing investment adivsory for five years with a 17.9% annual return.