Ring up Russia with Vimpel-Com (VIP)

"The company also doubled its profit in the third quarter -- to 42 cents per ADS. But those impressive results still narrowly missed a consensus estimate of 44 cents. VimpelCom's stock price dropped sharply, offering a good entry point.

"Second, VimpelCom, whose primary focus has been the rapidly maturing Moscow metropolitan area, is expanding rapidly into Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and a host of other countries in Central and Western Asia.

"The company completed the commercial launch of its cellular operation in Cambodia in May 2009. This was followed by the launch of wireless operation in Vietnam in July 2009. VimpelCom also recently signed an agreement to enter the Laos mobile market.

"The relatively lower mobile penetration in these new Asian markets allows VimpelCom to keep up the pace of its expansion.

"Finally, a vitriolic legal dispute that had been weighing on the stock has been resolved. In October, the company's two major shareholders Telenor and Altimo announced plans to merge their holdings in VimpelCom and Ukrainian mobile operator Kyivstar to create a jointly owned telecom operator.

"The new company will take over the New York listing of the 'old' VimpelCom. Oddly, the transaction which expands the size of the company substantially, does not yet appear to be reflected in the stock price.

"Renaissance Capital has put a target price of $31 on VimpelCom's stock. That's a 62% upside from its current price of $19.14."

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