For the first time, Jim Rogers is bullish on Russia. Last week, the American investor, who founded the Quantum Fund with George Soros, told CNBC he is buying Russian bonds, currency and equities because nobody else is.
"Russia is terribly depressed," he said. "Everybody hates Russia That's how you make money. You find something that everybody hates." Rogers, who avoided Russian stocks for 46 years, believes the nation will recover and that President Vladimir Putin is not an obstacle to progress.
The stock market trades on just five times forward earnings, says Sujata Rao of Reuters, cheaper than Pakistan or Greece.
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While it contains some of the "most expensive" emerging-markets stocks (retailers Dixy and Magnit trade on ratings of up to 25 times), two-thirds consists of government-controlled energy and commodity firms, trading at big discounts. This points to "a more tangible catalyst" for a Russian rally, says Roger Nusbaum on TheStreet.com: its role in global energy supply.
Of the 90 million barrels of oil produced daily worldwide, Russia produces ten million, plus two billion cubic feet of natural gas. If energy demand keeps growing, Russian suppliers should benefit.
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