"China Unicom (NYSE: CHU) could be one of the best ways to play China's astounding economic growth," says Brandon Clay in Invest with an Edge. Here's the growth advisor's review.
"With the world's largest population as its market, the mobile phone industry in China is set to soar. This makes China Unicom a compelling play. The firm has 21% market share in China.
"China Unicom's vice president recently said the company is targeting subscriber growth of 20 million to 30 million within a year. To put that into context, Verizon Wireless, the largest mobile phone carrier in the U.S., had 72.1 million subscribers at the end of last year.
"The company also recently announced it may partner with Apple to offer the iPhone, which has so far been unavailable in China. Given the sleek smartphone's huge popularity in the rest of the world, it is reasonable to expect Chinese consumers will flock to the iPhone in droves.
"China Unicom uses 3G WCDMA technology, the latest and greatest mobile voice and data network for both the iPhone and other platforms.
"Of course, this news hasn't flown under the radar of Wall Street. UBS upgraded China Unicom to 'buy' and the stock recently surged through critical resistance around $12 and appears to be in breakout mode.
"China Unicom should be treated as a long-term play on China's flourishing economic prominence. China's wireless market had just 52 million subscribers in 2000.
"That figure now approaches 500 million and wireless penetration is expected to reach 71% in 2012. That would be 71% of over 1.3 billion people, China's current population.
"With such massive growth prospects, China Unicom has the potential to be very rewarding indeed. We expect this stock to outperform the broader market both in the near-term and over the long haul. Tp play China, go with CHU."
Steven Halpern's TheStockAdvisors.com offers a free daily overview of the favorite stock picks and investment ideas from the nation's leading financial newsletter advisors.
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