Each year Steven Halpern, editor of TheStockAdvisors.com, surveys the leading financial newsletter advisors asking for their favorite stocks for the coming year. This article is part of his 24th annual Top Picks Report.
Templeton Emerging Markets Fund (NYSE: EMF), a closed-end fund, is the top speculative idea from Daniel Frishberg, BizRadio host and editor of TheMoneyMan.com.
He says, "Right now, shoppers are buying, foreigners are spending, Asia and Latin America are growing, the world is awash in money, interest rates are low and jobs are plentiful -- so any sell-off early in 2007 could mark a real opportunity to join a stock market that's about to blast off.
"Templeton Emerging Market covers the Pacific and Asia, excluding Japan. Stocks of China, Taiwan, South Korea, Turkey are the main holdings. In each of the last couple of years, it has issued a very large dividend, and many advisors have suggested getting in, in advance, to capture the dividend.
"In reality, the stock declined by the exact amount of the dividend, as should have been expected, and while EMF is recovering nicely, we see it as even more attractive post-dividend. You get the gain without the immediate tax.
"Aside from the tax issue, EMF presents an opportunity to benefit from obvious and well-known global growth patterns that are certainly poised to continue for years. Also, we observe the clear U.S. intention to talk strong dollar but, behind the scenes, to reduce the value of the dollar against the yuan. EMF is positioned to benefit from any dollar decline.
"Overall, Templeton Emerging Markets has managed to capture a good deal of the upside in this volatile sector, while holding up remarkably well as the sector corrects."
To see Daniel's top conservative investment for 2007, click here.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
12-24-2006 @ 7:15AM
Lyle Hamilton said...
Steve Halpren's comments on "emerges" Templeton are way too general to be of interest. This could have been written 6 months or a year ago.
5-25-2007 @ 4:29PM
Hendrickx said...
Steve Halpren's could have made the effort comparing performance of alternative emerging market funds before recommending this dog of Templeton.
Two prominent shareholder in Templeton Emerging Markets Investment trust have hit out at the godfather of emerging markets, fund manager Mark Mobius, for failing to deliver decent returns.
The manager of Advance Developing Markets Trust, (ADD) Slim Ferani, which holds 9 million shares in the trust, backed 13% shareholders City of London Investment Management in accusing Mobius of running so much money that he is only able to deliver index-like returns.