China Mobile (CHL) – Your Best Shot at a Blue Chip Doubler

tdp2664
InvestorPlace
I've always been reluctant to recommend individual emerging-market companies. With the exception of Turkcell (NYSE: TKC ), I've preferred to go the indirect route, buying American and European firms with a significant percentage of their revenues in emerging markets—Emerging Markets Lite, if you will. But I simply can’t overlook the opportunity in China Mobile (NYSE: CHL ) right now. With valuations on many of these global blue chips at generational lows, this seemed like a nearly-riskless way to get exposure to the emerging market consumer. After two years of almost uninterrupted bull market, it's getting harder and harder to find real bargains out there. I consider the American market to be fairly priced—neither exceptionally cheap nor expensive. On balance, most emerging markets are a little on the expensive side. Not at "bubble" levels in most cases, but not anywhere close to prices I like to see. The bargains simply aren't there like they were two years ago. Imagine my surprise when I looked into China Mobile (NYSE: CHL ). I first stumbled upon China Mobile when I was doing the research for Sprint (NYSE: S ) last month. As the leading provider of mobile telecommunications and related services in China, China Mobile serves over half a billion customers, and that number grows daily. The company grew its subscriber base by 12% in 2010. That's more than 60 million people—larger than the entire population of the United Kingdom—and the company is expecting similar increases in 2011 and beyond.