Art Samberg, Chairman and CEO, Pequot Capital was one of Barron's 2008 Roundtable participants. He likes six U.S.-traded stocks that include two plays on Brazil, a natural gas producer, and a Chinese advertiser:
- Ultra Petroleum (UPL) - "a gas exploration and production company with some of the best exploration assets in North America." Its all-in costs are among the lowest in the industry, and it boasts almost 100% drilling success. Its Rockies Express pipeline, which begins operating this month, will boost output. Natural gas prices could easily rise relative to crude.
- MEMC Electronic Materials (WFR) - the solar boom has driven prices for its polysilicon wafers to 10-times normal. Its "fluidized-bed" production
has a big cost advantage over Siemens' (S) competing approach. - Qualcomm (QCOM) - a play on 3G GSM [global system for mobile communications] phones. If it gets a likely 2.5% royalty-rate court settlement with Nokia (NOK), EPS (2009 current est. $2.38) could jump to $3.
- Focus Media (FMCN) - in China, LCD ad panel advertising is hugely popular, drawing as much as 10% of ad budgets. FMCN has an 80% market share.
- Brazil plays Gafisa (GFA) and America Movil (AMX) - Latin America avoided subprime investments that have wreaked havoc in the rest of the world. Brazil has huge excess liquidity and a growing middle class. Homebuilder Gafisa is "dirt cheap" given the recent increase in Brazilian property values. Wireless provider America Movil stands to gain from a recent easing of competition that has seen minutes-of-use boom.
