Double-digit subscriber growth means good things for America Movil SAB de CV (NYSE: AMX), hence I'm Reiterating my Buy rating for the company, first recommended on June 24, 2009 at a price of $36.47. If you purchased AMX in June, you're up about 30%.

America, is another one of those large caps that was rudely treated by Wall Street, which took shares down to about $25 from the mid-$60s in FY2008. That was a mistake, because all the while AMX, the largest wireless service provider in Latin America, has been expanding its presence in two important emerging markets: Brazil and Mexico. AMX also has a presence in 17 other countries in the Americas, and should have about 200 million subscribers by the end of 2009, up from 183 million at the end of 2008.

Analyst upgrades:

• Citigroup upgraded Kraft Foods (NYSE: KFT) to Buy from Hold as it believes the company's domestic retail business is improving while input cost inflation pressures are beginning to moderate. Citi raised its target on shares to $32 from $28.
• Jefferies upgraded Sybase (NYSE: SY) to Buy from Hold as it believes slowing core IPG licenses in the second half of 2009 are now reflected in guidance. The firm raised its target on shares to $41 from $34.
• Canaccord said Apple's (NASDAQ: AAPL) decision to ad video functionality into the iPod lineup is "very positive" as it expands its market into the low-end camcorder area. The firm, which upgraded shares to Buy from Hold and raised its target to $200 from $150, also views the launch of iPhone 3GS in all countries by the end of Q4 as another catalyst.
• Rio Tinto (NYSE: RTP) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Societe Generale.
• Renasant Corp. (NASDAQ: RNST) was upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Stephens.
• America Movil (NYSE: AMX) was upgraded to Neutral from Sell at Pali Capital.

"The technical backdrop has taken a distinctly bullish turn," says Michael Ashbaugh in MarketWatch's The Technical Indicator. Here, he looks at the market averages and a trio of stock ideas.

"Perhaps most obviously, the S&P has staged a 10-to-1 rally, and a 28-to-1 spike, from its 200-day moving average. And by any measure, this raises a bullish technical flag.

"With a gravity-defying rally, the S&P extended its gains, clearing resistance at 930 last Thursday. From current levels, significant resistance holds at the 2009 closing high of 946 while initial support rests at 930.

"Meanwhile, the Dow's near-term view is similar. With this week's rally, it's staged a 'V'-shaped reversal, breaking to one-month highs. Looking ahead, significant resistance holds at 8,799 - matching the 2009 closing high - while support rests at 8,580, matching the breakout point.

Readers of this space know that the investment bias favors U.S.-based companies, but there are exceptions, and America Movil SAB de CV (NYSE: AMX) is one.

America Movil, or just Movil, the largest cell phone service provider in Latin America, is another one of those large caps that was rudely treated by Wall Street, which took shares down to about $25 from the mid-$60s in FY2008.

Analyst upgrades:

• Goldman upgraded Gerdau AmeriSteel (NYSE: GNA) to Buy from Neutral and has a $5.50 target on shares. Shares were upgraded due to the potential impact from infrastructure spending. Note that Goldman downgraded Steel Dynamics (NYSE: STLD) and Olympic Steel (NYSE: ZEUS) to Neutral from Buy.
  
• Banc of America/Merrill upgraded Coca-Cola Enterprises (NYSE: CCE) to Buy from Neutral and raised the price target to $18 from $15. The firm the strong Q1 report gives them greater confidence in shares.
  
• Roth Capital upgraded Halozyme (NASDAQ: HALO) to Buy from Hold due to increased clarity into Roche programs, the discontinuation of the chemophase program, and progress on insulin delivery.
• American Movil (NYSE: AMX) was raised to Overweight from Neutral at JP Morgan and to Hold from Sell at Citigroup.
  
• Barclays (NYSE: BCS) and Lloyds TSB Group (NYSE: LYG) were upgraded at HSBC to Overweight from Neutral.

While stocks listed on the over-the-counter bulletin board (OTCBB) and the Pink Sheets, a privately held daily quote service (not a stock exchange), are known to be lacking in SEC filings, liquidity, and easily obtainable financial information (some have been delisted from major exchanges so brokerages actually make customers sign additional forms recognizing the added risk if they choose to trade in this niche), they actually are fully audited. In the last few years, Pink OTC Markets Inc., which owns these quotation systems, has aimed to bring extended transparency to this little known niche through the introduction of OTCQX.

The OTCQX, now a few years old and with 55 stocks listed, is a premium area of Pink Sheets -- which is littered with over 9,000 companies, most of which are penny stocks that don't trade very many shares or very often -- that provides a new level of disclosure not required outside of any major stock exchange, such as the AMEX, NYSE, or NASDAQ.

Analyst upgrades:

• Stephens upgraded Emergency Medical Services (NYSE: EMS) to Overweight from Equal Weight on valuation as they believe shares are undervalued at current levels. The firm has a $42 target on the stock.
  
• Deutsche Bank upgraded Deutsche Telekom (NYSE: DT) to Buy from Hold ahead of the company's earnings report as they expect the results to provide confidence in the dividend.
  
• Baird upgraded CoPart (NASDAQ: CPRT) to Outperform from Neutral due to the defensive nature of the salvage auction market, strong balance sheet, and potential growth beyond salvage and outside the U.S.
• First Financial (NASDAQ: FFBC) was raised to Market Perform from Underperform at Keefe Bruyette.
  
• GPC Biotech (NASDAQ: GPCB) was upgraded at Piper Jaffray to Neutral from Sell.
  
• Smith & Nephew (NYSE: SNN) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Citigroup.

The telecom business is definitely not recession-proof, as those that have followed the industry have recently realized, but it is not a field that is going to fade into the horizon any time soon either. Simply put, people need to communicate and the telecom business is poised to continue rolling with the new technology and bringing people what they need. If you see the value of telecom companies and agree that their future is, perhaps not golden, but definitely strong, then an investment in an Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) is an excellent way to invest in the future of the telecom field without placing all of your trust in one specific company.

iShares S&P Global Telecommunications Sector ETF (NYSE: IXP) let's you own shares in some of the most noted and reliable telecom companies by simply purchasing shares of the one ETF. With IXP you'll find your investment basket is loaded with companies such as Amercia Movil, S.A.B. (NYSE: AMX) a fixed and wireless provider in Latin America, AT&T, Inc. (NYSE: T) a telecom provider for customers in the U.S. and worldwide, Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ) a wireline and domestic wireless provider across the globe, as well as several other highly rated and well known telecom leaders.

iShares charges only a 0.48% fee to maintain IXP using computers rather than money managers. IXP also has typically paid about $1.50 per year in dividends -- IXP is down about (41%) this year so that's about a 4% yield -- and these companies seem to have the cash-generating ability to continue dividends.

Of the 44 stocks in IXP, the top 10 holdings total about 71% of all total assets. Take note of the global exposure you'll get by investing in the future of the telecom industry:

• 17.19%: AT&T INC(NYSE:T)
• 10.61%: VODAFONE GROUP PLC(NYSE:VOD)
• 9.47% : TELEFONICA SA(NYSE:TEF)
• 9.05%: VERIZON COMMUNICATIONS IN(NYSE:VZ)
• 5.01%: CHINA MOBILE LTD(NYSE:CHL)
• 4.94%: FRANCE TELECOM SA(NYSE:FTE)
• 4.57%: DEUTSCHE TELEKOM AG-REG(NYSE:DT)
• 3.98%: NIPPON TELEGRAPH & TELEPHONE(NYSE:NTT)
• 3.21%: TELSTRA CORP LTD (Other OTC:TLS)
• 2.71%: BCE INCNYSE:BCE)

Mitch Tuchman is founder of MarketRiders an investment website that teaches individuals how to be their own investment advisors using ETFs

"Based in Mexico, América Móvil (NYSE: AMX) is the largest wireless service provider in Latin America," notes wireless sector expert Nikhil Hutheesing.

The editor of The Forbes Wireless Stock Watch notes that the company's largest stakeholder is billionaire Carlos Slim who holds a 30% stake. Here's the advisors's bullish assessment for the company.

"AMX, which was spun out of Mexico's Telmex in 2000, operates out of Mexico City, but only about 30% of its business is actually in Mexico. It has has been growing rapidly mostly by acquiring troubled Latin American operators that took on too much debt during the telecom bubble.

"Móvil then consolidates operations, changes management as necessary, and makes operations more efficient and profitable.

"With 3G networks in place, América Móvil will be able to boost revenue and profit by selling more data services. It's already offering 3G service in Mexico and plans to spend another $4 billion to upgrade its wireless networks to 3G in five or so more countries this year.

On Friday, French wireless operator Orange said it has signed a deal with Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) to sell its iPhone in the Middle East, Africa and several European countries. Well, wasn't it just Monday that we've heard that Apple has signed deals with Singapore's Singapore Telecommunications Ltd and three of its affiliates to bring the iPhone to four Asian countries later this year? And wasn't it last week that Vodafone Group (NYSE: VOD) signed a deal with Apple to sell the iPhone in ten of its markets? That was just what I remembered offhand. Seems like Apple has pretty much signed deals with companies to sell the iPhone nearly worldwide. Let's check that:

• From the Vodafone deal we have: Australia, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Greece, Italy, India, Portugal, New Zealand, South Africa and Turkey
  
• From the SingTel deal we have: Singapore, India, the Philippines and Australia
  
• From the Orange deal we have: Austria, Belgium, the Dominican Republic, Egypt, Jordan, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Switzerland and African markets
  
• Also, America Movil SAB (NYSE: AMX) will start selling the iPhone in 16 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean
• Rogers Communications Inc (NYSE: RCI) signed a deal to sell the iPhone in Canada
• Telecom Italia SpA will also sell the iPhone in Italy
• The iPhone is already being sold by AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) in the United States, O2 in Britain, T-Mobile in Germany and Orange in France.

The choppy/consolidating (or perhaps worse) market conditions sometimes give the impression that growth plays do not exist, but that is not the case, and one growth company worth reviewing is American Movil SA.

American Movil S.A.B de C.V. (ADR) (NYSE: AMX) is the largest wireless service provider in Latin America, and one of the 10 largest in the world.

Analysts see 2008 revenue rising of 15-20%, after a 32% increase in 2007. Further, analysts also like the company's successful expansion to 13 other markets in the region, to go along with its two key markets: Brazil and Mexico.

Hence, analysts also really like AMX's current subscriber base -- a remarkable 153 million in 2007 -- and its projected subscriber growth rate of 12-15% for 2008, and 10-13% for 2009.

Mexican businessman Carlos Slim Helú is believed to be the richest man in the world. As chairman of Teléfonos de Mexico, better known as Telmex (NYSE: TMX) and América Móvil (NYSE: AMX), Slim has substantial influence over the telecommunications industry in Mexico, and much of Latin America as well.

The past year has been good to Slim. In the spring, with an estimated net worth of $53.1 billion, he overtook investing guru Warren Buffett as the world's second richest person. By the end of the summer, Fortune reported that Slim's net worth had grown to $59 billion, allowing him to overtake Microsoft founder Bill Gates as the world's wealthiest person.

Carlos Slim's personal wealth grew by $12 billion during the year, and he also controls a $150 billion business empire. His family's holdings represented more than 5% of Mexico's 2006 gross domestic product, and Slim-controlled companies made up one-third of the $422 billion Mexican stock exchange.

With his political connections and business savvy, Slim has managed to fend off accusations of monopolistic business practices for years, but the hammer may finally be about to fall. A probe of Carlos Slim's empire by Mexican antitrust regulators is scheduled to ramp up in the new year. Will 2008 see his empire crumble?

The New York Times raises an important question facing Citigroup (NYSE: C) and Merrill Lynch (NYSE: MER) -- is the financial supermarket -- an idea pushed by former Citigroup CEO Sandy Weill -- an idea whose time is past? I think it's time to kill this failed concept -- it's bad for customers, employees, and shareholders.

Twenty-five years ago, I won a competition at the consulting firm where I worked to advise an insurance company about how it should respond to the financial supermarket idea. Back then, Sandy Weill had taken his brokerage firm -- Shearson -- and merged it with Lehman Brothers (NYSE: LEH) and ultimately American Express Co. (NYSE: AXP) to create a company where someone could get all their personal financial needs taken care of under one roof. My job was to find other companies that this insurance company could buy to implement the financial supermarket concept.

But the financial supermarket is a non-starter from the customer's standpoint. It doesn't even work inside the institution where it's housed. After Sandy Weill got kicked out of American Express, he tried to rebuild the concept from scratch -- starting with Commercial Credit and extending to Travelers Co. (NYSE: TRV) and ultimately merging it all together into Citigroup. This is all well described in Amey Stone's King of Capital.

CNet Networks (NASDAQ: CNET), a leading independent source of product information with detailed content on technology products, is expected to report EPS on 10/23. Over the last five years, CNET has been frequently mentioned as a buyout target of multimedia conglomerates. STFL says, "Moving to hold; still takeover upside; stand alone valuation less attractive." CNET November option implied volatility of 54 is above its 26-week average of 38 according to Track Data, suggesting increasing price risks.

America Movil (NYSE: AMX), provides wireless telecommunications service in Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia & Ecuador, announced on 10/10 its intention to pay a special dividend of US$1.85 ADR, shareholders will be called on or before 10/31 to approve the dividend. AMX is expected to announce EPS on 10/18. AMX has a market cap of $117 million. AMX overall option implied volatility of 34 is near its 26-week average according to Track Data, suggesting non-directional price fluctuations.

Daily options update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com.

Each month, the Forbes International Investment Report includes a Q&A feature with a fund manager or analyst which editor John Christy has chosen for "exceptional insight into global markets and investing."

His latest interview is with Gonzalo Pangaro at T. Rowe Price. Based in London, Pangaro, with 15 years of experience in Latin America, manages $6 billion in Latin American equities, including the T.Rowe Price Latin America Fund (PRLAX). Here are some highlights.

Forbes/Christy: Latin American stocks are having a great year so far. Is it too late to get on board?

Pangaro: "I don't think so. There are still very attractive opportunities in Latin America.The performance has been extremely strong in the past three years, but before then, Latin America traded sideways for 10 years. So we are coming from a very low base, and the macroeconomic improvement in many countries has been significant.

"Back in 1994, at the time of the 'Tequila Crisis', countries had exchange rates that were fixed at artificially high levels, big current account deficits, poor fiscal positions, and very high dollar-denominated external debt. So they were very vulnerable.

"All of that has changed. All the key countries have paid down their dollar debt, inflation is under control, currencies are floating freely, and current accounts are in surplus. So I think the economic situation has improved meaningfully.