Wall Street's main indexes were poised for a higher open on Wednesday as headline consumer prices cooled faster than expected in March, raising hopes that the Federal Reserve could hit pause on its interest rate hiking cycle soon.
Below is Validea's guru fundamental report for ALIBABA GROUP HOLDING LTD - ADR (BABA). Of the 22 guru strategies we follow, BABA rates highest using our Price/Sales Investor model based on the published strategy of Kenneth Fisher. This value strategy rewards stocks with low P/S
U.S. stock index futures edged higher on Wednesday as investors awaited inflation data and minutes from the Federal Reserve's policy meeting for clues on whether U.S. interest rates are near their peak.
U.S. stock index futures edged higher on Wednesday as investors awaited key inflation data and minutes from the Federal Reserve's policy meeting for clues on whether U.S. interest rates are near their peak.
IQVIA Holdings Inc.’s IQV growth is mainly driven by a strong global IT infrastructure and a huge market. The company’s extensive database is a major entry barrier for new players.
Alibaba BABA, similar to other tech behemoths, has been making efforts to establish itself in the race for generative AI-powered chatbots.The company’s latest introduction of Tongyi Qianwen, its large language model, attests to the aforesaid fact.The recent move of Alibab
For Immediate ReleaseChicago, IL – April 11, 2023 – Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in
Part of having a well-diversified portfolio is investing in international companies. International companies give investors added diversification (location and currency), exposure to growth opportunities around the world, and access to industries that may not be as well represent
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd on Tuesday unveiled Tongyi Qianwen, an AI large language model similar to GPT that it plans to integrate into all of the company's business applications in the near future.
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd on Tuesday unveiled Tongyi Qianwen, an AI large language model similar to GPT that it plans to integrate into all of the company's business applications in the near future.
For U.S. investors, diversifying into emerging markets is a great way to potentially add more potential growth to one’s portfolio. However, without local market experience and boots-on-the-ground knowledge, it can be difficult to know which markets and which specific stocks to invest in.
That’s why many investors are well-served by checking out an ETF like the
iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (
NYSEARCA:EEM)
. This $24.6 billion ETF from BlackRock (
NYSE:BLK
) gives investors instant diversification with access to nearly 1,200 emerging markets stocks from around the world and across a wide array of industries. EEM launched in 2003 and is a passively-managed ETF that seeks to replicate the results of the MSCI Emerging Markets Index before fees and expenses, according to iShares' website.
Why Consider Emerging Markets?
There are several reasons why U.S. investors (or investors living in any developed market, for that matter) should consider adding some emerging market exposure to their portfolios. First, investing in emerging markets allows investors to tap into more growth potential as these countries develop and “catch up” with developed markets in terms of economic development, lifestyle, and infrastructure.
Many of these emerging market countries not only have growing populations, but they're also home to growing numbers of people who are joining the global middle class, and consumption will increase as more people join this demographic.
A second key reason to consider investing in emerging markets is that the valuations are much cheaper than you’ll find in the
S&P 500 (
SPX)
or other major U.S. indices. For example, the stocks in the S&P 500 currently sport an average price-to-earnings multiple of nearly 22. On the other hand, the average P/E multiple for EEM is just 11 -- 50% less. While the S&P 500 certainly deserves some premium given the safety and long-term outperformance of U.S. markets, this is a wide gulf. This lower valuation for emerging market stocks gives investors a margin of safety when investing and also leaves more room on the table for future upside.
Furthermore, while U.S. stocks have outperformed emerging stocks over the past decade, this doesn’t mean that this will always be the case. In fact, for the decade spanning 2000 to 2010, emerging market stocks vastly outperformed the returns of both U.S. stocks and other international, developed-market stocks.
While it may not be today or tomorrow, at some point, some reversion to the mean seems inevitable, and we could again see emerging market stocks outperform again at some point, making it worth having exposure to them with a vehicle like EEM.
Below, you’ll find
a performance chart showing the divergence between U.S. stocks, represented by the
SPDR S&P 500 ETF (
NYSEARCA:SPY)
, and EEM using TipRanks' ETF Comparison Tool. Not only does this screener help you to compare the performance of up to 20 stocks or ETFs at a time, but you can also use it to gather other data on each ETF, like expense ratios, assets under management, and
TipRanks Smart Scores.
Lastly, a final benefit of investing in an ETF like EEM is that investing outside of one’s home market helps investors to spread out their risk.
EEM Sports 1,199 Holdings
With 1,199 holdings across large-cap and mid-cap emerging market stocks, EEM offers investors ample diversification. Furthermore,
EEM's top 10 holdings account for just 23.2% of assets, so this isn't one of the ETFs that hold many stocks but is dominated by just a handful of positions.
EEM is also diversified across industries -- while many of the top holdings like Taiwan Semiconductor (
NYSE:TSM
), Tencent (
OTC:TCEHY
), Samsung (
OTC:SSMMF
), and Alibaba (
NYSE:BABA
) all fall under the technology sector, other top 10 holdings include Brazilian miner Vale (
NYSE:VALE
) and Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries. Top holding Taiwan Semiconductor has a large weighting here at 6.7%, but remember that Taiwan Semiconductor is the ninth-largest company in the world by market cap (as of September 2022), so it will occupy a large position in any emerging market index.
Other prominent holdings that U.S. investors are likely familiar with include Pinduoduo (
NASDAQ:PDD
), JD.com (
NASDAQ:JD
), Baidu (
NASDAQ:BIDU
), and Yum China (
NYSE:YUMC
).
The financial sector is the most prominent one among EEM’s holdings, with a 21% weighting. Further, information technology and consumer discretionary make up 20.2% and 13.4% of the fund’s holdings, respectively. The communications sector makes up 10.5% of the fund, and all other sectors account for single-digit percentage allocations.
EEM stock also offers plenty of geographical diversification. China accounts for 32.3% of holdings, while India, Taiwan, and South Korea all account for double-digit allocations as well. China has a large weighting here, but China is by far the largest emerging market economy (and the second largest economy in the world), so this makes sense.
Other countries represented include Brazil (with a 4.8% weighting), Saudi Arabia (4%), South Africa (3.5%), Mexico (2.6%), Thailand (2.1%), and Indonesia (1.9%). All other emerging markets make up the rest of the fund’s assets.
The 2.5% Dividend Adds to Its Appeal
In addition to this strong diversification, the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF also features a
2.5% dividend yield. While this isn’t a remarkable yield, it helps to add to total returns over time. The ETF has paid out a dividend for 17 consecutive years. U.S. investors should note that EEM pays a semiannual dividend (twice a year, typically in June and December) rather than the quarterly payout schedule of most domestic stocks.
Additional Thoughts
In terms of negatives, EEM’s expense ratio of 0.69% is a bit higher than I would expect for a broad-market, index-based ETF like this, especially since BlackRock’s series of iShares ETFs are typically known for their low fees. For reference, the SPY ETF has a 0.09% expense ratio.
The other negative to note here is that this ETF has underperformed indices like the S&P 500 over the past decade, so it doesn’t have the pedigree of a long-term winner. However, as discussed above, this is because emerging markets themselves have underperformed the U.S. market for the past decade, and I would expect that the situation will revert to the mean at some point in the future.
The Takeaway
Ultimately, EEM is a useful tool that investors can utilize to instantly gain exposure to a broad swath of emerging market stocks, which I think all U.S-based and developed market-based investors should consider having some long-term exposure to.
Disclosure
Alibaba (BABA) closed the most recent trading day at $101.54, moving -1.17% from the previous trading session. This change lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.1%. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 0.3%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, lost 2.19%.
Monday, April 10, 2023The Zacks Research Daily presents the best research output of our analyst team. Today's Research Daily features new research reports on 16 major stocks, including Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL), Alibaba Group Holding Limited (BABA) and Costco Wholesale Corpor
Wall Street kicked off the second quarter by essentially marching in place. I thought my "three stocks to avoid" -- Alibaba, WD-40, and Frontier Communications -- were going to lose to the market in the past week. They rose 0.5% and 0.3% and dipped 3.2%, respectively. The final r
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When the Soviet Union and the United States began the fierce race to space that gave birth to the ultimate tension termed the "cold war," the U.S. Pentagon, alongside NASA, picked up the phone and requested tremendous aid from chip and computing companies like International Busi
One way for savvy retail investors to identify companies with potential for solid earnings is by monitoring their web traffic. Exciting companies with strong earnings potential tend to attract attention through web searches, and following their website traffic can complement traditional metrics.
And this is where TipRanks'
Website Traffic Screener comes in. By using the tool, investors can analyze a company's website performance and potentially forecast its upcoming earnings report.
With this in mind, we've used the screener to identify three e-commerce stocks that experienced sequential growth in website traffic during the recent quarter and have received Strong Buy ratings from Wall Street analysts. Let's take a closer look.
Pinduoduo, Inc. (
PDD)
In the January-March quarter, the Chinese e-commerce company Pinduoduo
has likely benefited from the reopening of China’s borders and efforts to enhance e-commerce offerings. In September 2022, the company launched its deep discount online platform Temu in the United States, which has become the most downloaded app in the United States.
It is worth mentioning that the TipRanks website traffic tool points to a solid top-line performance in the first quarter (ended March 2023).
Global visits to temu.com and pinduoduo.com climbed by 167.6% sequentially in the quarter.
The increase in website visits can be attributed to the platform’s vast addressable market and high demand for low-priced products due to persistently high inflation.
The company is expected to announce its first-quarter results on May 26, 2023.
Overall, Wall Street is bullish about
PDD stock. It has received 10 Buy and one Hold recommendations for a Strong Buy consensus rating. Further, analysts’ 12-month average price target of $110.36 implies 53.2% upside potential from current levels.
MercadoLibre, Inc. (
MELI)
MercadoLibre is an e-commerce company that operates in Latin America. It also offers payments and lending solutions, along with a robust ad business and a logistics division. The company is benefitting from rapid e-commerce and fintech adoption in Latin America.
As per the tool, total
global visits to mercadolibre.com.ar and mercadolibre.com climbed 30% sequentially in the quarter that ended March 2023. The increase in visits could indicate that demand for its products remained strong.
MercadoLibre is expected to release first-quarter results on May 4, 2023.
Wall Street has given MercadoLibre a Strong Buy rating based on nine Buys and one Hold. The average
MELI stock price target of $1,524 entails a 22.4% gain from here.
Alibaba Group (
BABA)
Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group is benefitting from a strong presence in China’s consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer markets. Moreover, China's reopening might have enhanced the efficiency of its cross-border platform AliExpress.
Furthermore, the company is expected to launch its own artificial intelligence chatbot, similar in nature to OpenAI’s ChatGPT, this year. This is expected to bolster Alibaba’s long-term growth prospects.
The website traffic tool shows that the number of visits to Alibaba’s websites — aliexpress.com, alibaba.com, and taobao.com
increased by 21.5% sequentially for the March quarter.
BABA is expected to announce results for the first quarter of 2023 on May 18, 2023.
Analysts have a Strong Buy rating on Alibaba based on 19 unanimous Buys assigned in the past three months. The
average BABA stock price target of $149.74 implies 45.8% upside potential from current levels.
Final Thoughts
PDD, MELI, and BABA have witnessed solid website traffic growth despite lingering macro headwinds. Interestingly, investors can enhance their stock research with the website traffic tool, as it enables one to analyze changes in consumer behavior and predict how this may affect the upcoming earnings report and stock price.