Why Brazil Stocks?

Last week, the rating agency, Standard & Poor's, downgraded the credit ratings
for nine countries, France, Austria, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Cyprus, Malta,
Slovakia and Slovenia. Yet just a couple months ago, S&P raised Brazil's foreign
currency rating with little fanfare. According to John Chambers , S&P Managing
Director Sovereign Ratings, "the upgrade of Brazil was supported by the current
administration's growing track record of prudent macroeconomic policies,
including fairly consistent primary surpluses of close to 3% of GDP." From an
economic standpoint, Brazil is the seventh largest country in the world based on
GDP. The country is the world leader in renewable source energy, especially
ethanol which it generates from sugarcane. Fortunately for investors, there are
plenty of Brazilian stocks that trade on the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ.
Based on the free list of Brazil stocks at WallStreetNewsNetwork.com,
twenty-five Brazilian stocks are available to US investors and almost all of
them pay dividends. One example is Braskem S.A. (BAK), the largest chemical
company in South America. It makes and markets petrochemical and thermoplastic
products. The stock trades at 15 times forward earnings and sports a very
generous yield of 7.0%. Revenues for the latest reported quarter were up over
15%. In the area of beverages, Companhia de Bebidas das Americas (ABV), also
known as Ambev, makes and sells beer, soft drinks, malt, and other non-alcoholic
and non-carbonated products. The stock has a forward price to earnings ratio of
20, and a yield of 4.3%. Revenues were up 6.6% for the latest quarter, although
earnings were down 7%. Gerdau S.A. (GGB), founded in 1901, manufactures and
markets steel products. The stock trades at eight times forward earnings and
offers investors a 2.9% yield. Latest quarter revenues were up 9.5%, with
earnings up 31.9%. Telefonica Brasil, S.A. ADS (VIV) is a fixed-line
telecommunications company with a forward PE of 10, a yield of 1.4%. Quarterly
earnings were up 105% on a 108% rise in revenues. To see other dividend paying
Brazil stocks, you can access a free list of Brazil stocks at
WallStreetNewsNetwork.com, which can be downloaded, updated, and sorted.
Disclosure: Author did not own any of the above at the time the article was
written. By Stockerblog.com