I've just returned from the World Money Show in Orlando where more than 10,000 investors gathered to learn about global investing. I had a chance to meet with many of the financial experts and global company representatives featured at the show, and over the next week I will share some of their top investment ideas. To view all of the stocks featured in this special global report, click here.
Visiting from Japan was mobile phone operator NTT DoCoMo (NYSE:DCM), whose stock is a favorite buy from Tony Sagami, editor of the Asia Stock Alert and a global analyst with Martin Weiss Research.
In reviewing the company, Sagami is particularly impressed with its new "portable wallet," which lets a cell phone act a credit card.
First, he notes, "The company just reported its results for the first nine months of its fiscal year (through the end of December). And while the firm delivered essentially flat sales and profits from the same period last year, DoCoMo still made $3.3 billion of profits on $29.7 billion of sales in the last nine months.
"Meanwhile, three items impressed the heck out of me. First, DoCoMo grew its subscriber base from 50.3 million last year to 52.2 million today. For a country whose cellular phone market is mature and very saturated, that additional 1.9 million cellular subscribers is pretty impressive.
"In addition, DoCoMo generates about $6 billion of free cash flow each year and has been using those dollars to buy back stock, increase its dividend, and invest in building out its network and new cutting-services, such as osaifu-ketai.
"Osaifu-ketai is Japanese for 'portable wallet.' This new service essentially allows a cell phone to function like a credit card. In Japan, you can use your cell phone to buy a train pass, a Big Mac, or ticket to a movie.
"DoCoMo has grown this service from nothing last year to 20 million phones today, and of those 20 million, 1.5 million have applied and activated a line of credit. DoCoMo has 100,000 osaifu-ketai readers in place and it expects to have 150,000 in place by the end of March.
"If DoCoMo keeps growing this part of its business, MasterCard and Visa are going to be very unhappy and DoCoMo shareholders are going to be very happy investors.
"Long term, NTT DoCoMo could easily double in price before the end of this decade. For those who own the shares, we counsel you to hold on. If you don't, then buy at the market."
Steven Halpern's TheStockAdvisors.com provides a free, daily overview of the latest stock ideas from the nation's leading financial newsletters.
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