Comfort Zone Investing: The unmighty dollar

Our exports are thriving. Any company that has a presence internationally is seeing better orders from China, Australia, Europe, thanks to a lower value on the dollar. While the U.S. economy continues to flounder, other countries are bouncing back. When the dollar is weak, our exporting producers increase sales. With increased sales come jobs. And the jobs part is the critical issue. Don't expect the government to do more than talk about strengthening the dollar. It isn't politically the best thing to do right now. Anything that helps create jobs is gold.

Speaking of jobs, here's an interesting fact about the auto industry, taken from the latest edition of Automobile magazine. The list contains the manufacturer, the output, number of jobs and where they're located.

Carmaker -- Location -- Output -- no. of Jobs
BMW -- Greer, SC -150,000 --Jobs: 5,000
HONDA (HMC) -- Lincoln, AL -- 300,000 -- Jobs: 4,500
HYUNDAI -- Montgomery, AL -- 300,000 -- Jobs: 2,700
KIA -- West Point, GA -- 300,000 -- Jobs: 3,000
MERCEDES BENZ -- Vance, AL -- 174,000 -- Jobs: 3,000
NISSAN -- Smyrna, TN -- 550,000 -- Jobs; 3,900
NISSAN -- Canton, MS -- 400,000 -- Jobs: 3,400
TOYOTA (TM) -- Georgetown, KY -- 500,000 -- Jobs: 6,800
TOYOTA -- San Antonio, TX -- 200,000 -- Jobs: 1,700
TOYOTA -- Blue Springs, MS 150,000 -- Jobs: 2,000
VOLKSWAGEN -- Chattanooga, TN -- 150,000 -- Jobs: 2,000

Why does this tie into a column on the dollar? Because these foreign manufacturers figured out that it's cheaper to make and sell their cars here in the U.S. due to wage and cost of materials than it is in their own countries. Now, no matter what the dollar does, at least the manufacturing aspect of these cars will be cost controlled. The currency factor is still there when headquarters converts the dollar into its native currency but having a plant in the U.S. takes much of the unknown out of the cost of building cars made for the U.S. market.

Notice that most of these plants are located in the South. The land costs and wages are lower there. I don't believe any of them is a union plant so their labor costs are lower than the Detroit manufacturers, though that disparity is lessening due to new union agreements.

Another consideration: with the dollar so weak, the cost of manufacturing in the U.S. is low and that allows these car companies to meet demand in the U.S. and ship U.S. made cars globally. If the dollar continues at its low point, expect these car makers to hire more workers to meet global demand for cars, especially in China. There could be lots of Detroit unemployed moving. Again, the weak dollar creates more jobs for exporters.

As investors, here's the take-away: look for companies that export. Their sales will continue to increase with a weak dollar. They will be hiring. They will be making good profits. An example: Microchip Technology, featured this week in OLI's Income column. As long as the government keeps the dollar low, expect U.S. based international companies to prosper.

Ted Allrich is the founder of The Online Investor, chairman of the board of Bank of Internet USA, as well as the author of the book Comfort Zone Investing: Build Wealth and Sleep Well at Night. In this weekly column, he'll offer advice to investors who are just getting started.