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Savings Experiment: Snow RemovalThis post is part of a special report, Top Picks for 2010, the 27th annual survey in which TheStockAdvisors.com asks the nation's leading advisors for their single favorite stock for the new year. See all 80 stocks listed here.
Yiannis Mostrous is a leading expert on Asian stocks. For his top pick last year, he chose Standard Chartered (SCBFF) as his top pick.
The stock has risen 110% since his original recommend -- and remains his top pick for 2010 as well. Here's the latest from his The Silk Road Investor.
The advisor continues, "Standard Chartered is an international bank focused on consumer and corporate banking and treasury activities.
"Though based in London, the bank gives exposure to emerging markets in Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Asia makes up 59% of the firm's profits with Hong Kong as its biggest single concentration of customers.
"The economies in Asia are rebounding faster than those in the west, increasing competitor activity amongst international and local banks.
"The banks strategy is to continue to develop its consumer banking franchises while maximizing profitability in its historically strong wholesale operations.
"For the January-November period, the firm reached record income and pretax profit highs, driven by growth in the corporate banking business.
"Standard Chartered has a relatively low loan-to-deposit ratio of 75%, giving the bank the luxury of relying less on borrowed funds and more on its increasingly strong, less costly deposits for expansion.
"Valuations are attractive; share price per trailing earnings is 14.3, trading at 1.5 times tangible book value. The firm maintains a strong balance sheet and a healthy liquidity position."
Steven Halpern's TheStockAdvisors.com offers a free daily overview of the favorite stocks of the nation's leading financial newsletter advisors.
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