Three undervalued emerging market stocks to consider

When picking emerging market stocks at Fidelity Emerging Markets, our approach is a flexible one. We have a variety of tools to exploit the best opportunities across the full breadth of the emerging market universe – taking both long and short positions, investing in companies ranging from the very largest to small caps and off-benchmark stocks, and using gearing to extend high-conviction long positions.

We select emerging market stocks based on fundamentals and quality. We look to go long on the stocks of companies that we believe can generate sustainably higher returns, with strong corporate governance and under-leveraged balance sheets. We short those that are the opposite: companies in structural or cyclical decline and that are flying red flags. This approach is made possible by Fidelity’s analysts, who help us uncover opportunities across the breadth of emerging markets, including those lesser-known names off the beaten track. Here are three companies that we think bring this approach to life.

Emerging market stocks to watch

The rise in popularity of Korean beauty products, or “K-beauty”, has taken the global cosmetics world by storm, propelled by innovative products and fast-growing beauty trends. But behind many of the best-known brands sit more under-the-radar specialist manufacturers, such as Cosmecca Korea (Seoul: 241710), which develops and produces skincare products on these brands’ behalf. As Korea’s third-largest manufacturer of its kind, Cosmecca is well-positioned to ride the wave of strong demand for Korean cosmetics. Its scale gives it an advantage over smaller rivals, helping keep costs down while investing more in research and product development. That has helped Cosmecca build a competitive edge in areas such as sunscreen, allowing it to increasingly attract US brands in addition to its Korean clients.

Think of Sinotruk (Hong Kong: 3808) as China’s equivalent of Volvo Trucks or Scania – a dominant producer of heavy-duty trucks with a leading position in the domestic market. However, what makes the investment story particularly interesting is that it is increasingly taking Chinese manufacturing capability overseas, selling trucks into more than 150 countries and benefiting from compelling demand trends across emerging markets. Africa is an especially important growth market, where structural growth in mining and infrastructure investment is supporting strong truck sales. Sinotruk also benefits from a competitive edge through its comprehensive service system, which has helped it defend market share from competitors.

Tin might seem an unlikely beneficiary of the artificial intelligence (AI) boom, but growing demand for the metal for use in AI servers and semiconductors, as well as for other technologies such as solar panels, is adding to demand in a market where supply is already tight. Stricter regulations and low inventories have constrained supply, leaving tin as an increasingly important bottleneck in the technology supply chain. We gain exposure to this theme through small-cap and off-benchmark tin producer Alphamin (Vancouver: AFM), based in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The company has a strong market position in tin production, operating two of the world’s highest-grade tin mines and producing about 7% of mined tin globally. With high-quality assets and low production costs, it meets the quality criteria we look for and is trading at a very cheap multiple.

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