"...emerging markets will grow faster than the
developed world for decades to come."

Gideon Rachman, The Financial Times

Frontier Markets Find Footing

Frontier markets remain in focus for the Templeton Emerging Markets Group in 2014, and my team and I have spent the early part of the year exploring potential investment opportunities in a number of them. I generally spend about a third of my time in these markets, with Dubai, Eastern Europe and South Africa serving as hubs for access. While the emerging markets we visit today were once considered niches or “exotic” investments when I first started investing in them in the late 1980s, many investors are now familiar with them. Many frontier markets are yet to be fully discovered by the investment community, and we believe they represent the next tier of investment opportunities within the overall emerging-markets universe. Frontier markets are located around the globe, in Asia, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, Central and South America, and Africa. We think there is good potential for frontier economies to forge ahead in their development this year and beyond.

Emerging vs. Frontier: The Distinction

There are a number of factors that go into qualifying a particular market as “developed,” “emerging,” or “frontier,” and different organizations or index providers may have slightly different criteria. Emerging-market countries include those considered to be developing or emerging by the World Bank, the International Finance Corporation, the United Nations, or the countries’ authorities, or defined as countries with a stock market capitalization of less than 3% of the Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) World Index.1

Frontier markets can be considered a subset of emerging markets, and they are typically economies at the lower end of the development spectrum. They are the generally smaller, less developed and less liquid emerging-market countries that are considered to be in the nascent stages of development. In essence, they represent what some emerging-market countries such as Brazil, Russia, India and China were 20 to 25 years ago. By offering investors the ability to invest in a “younger generation of emerging markets,” frontier markets may provide an attractive investment opportunity, in our view. The MSCI Frontier Markets Index2 provides a handy benchmark for investors and MSCI has its own criteria to determine classifications, but they are not something we strictly adhere to when making investment decisions for our portfolios.

Frontier Markets Charting Their Own Course

Frontier markets have caught the attention of many investors, as frontier markets tend to be more exposed to their domestic economies—many of which are developing rapidly—as opposed to the global economy, which is growing at a much slower pace. Moreover, positive local developments such as the implementation of reforms have further benefited many individual markets.

Overall, we believe there have been a number of factors supporting frontier markets’ long-term potential. These include high levels of economic growth, positive local developments such as reforms and relatively low levels of consumer and sovereign indebtedness, as well as what we consider attractive valuations, in our view. In addition, we believe undeveloped natural resources, low-cost labor, favorable demographic trends and potential technological catch-up could continue to support these markets.

Focusing on some individual frontier markets, the United Arab Emirates has been benefiting from improving local economic data and the prospect of rising international trade flows through the port of Dubai. The recent award of the 2020 World Expo to Dubai is likely to provide extra impetus to an already solid real estate market, in our view. Improving economic news from the eurozone and some positive local developments supported a number of frontier markets in Europe, notably the Republic of Serbia and Bulgaria. In Asia, Pakistan has benefited from an improving growth outlook, a new International Monetary Fund loan program and hopes that planned economic reforms will be pushed through in 2014.

Current Valuations

At the end of January, valuations in frontier markets generally remained attractive to us. As you can see from the table below, the MSCI Frontier Markets Index was trading at a trailing price/earnings ratio (P/E) of 13.6 times, much lower than the 17.4 times P/E for the MSCI World Index.3 In terms of price-to-book value (P/BV), frontier markets look attractive to us at 1.8 times, versus 2.1 times for the MSCI World Index, and the dividend yield was much higher in frontier markets at 3.6%, compared to 2.5% for the MSCI World Index.4 Further, some individual markets are even more attractively valued, in our opinion. Thus, we have been able to find some cheaper stocks that we think are better valued. Of course, this is not the case for every single company operating in frontier markets, but it is certainly true for many of them, in our view. Hence, we feel it is important to undertake extensive research and study each individual company rather than generalize.

0314_Frontieryield_noborderFrontier Fundamentals Appear Favorable

Investors have become increasingly open to new investment ideas and ways to diversify their portfolios.5 This trend is especially the case now, in our view, as relatively slower growth rates in major economies globally and low bank deposit interest rates have led many investors to look elsewhere for investment opportunities.

In our opinion, frontier markets remain among the most exciting investment opportunities for global equity investors. While the characteristics of frontier markets differ from region to region and country to country, as a group they share a number of traits. Similarities have included high levels of economic growth and relatively low levels of consumer and sovereign indebtedness that open up the potential for growth to accelerate, as well as valuations that we believe often have stood below the levels of equivalent businesses in developed and maturing emerging markets. We believe internal sources of potential growth, including undeveloped natural resources, low-cost labor, favorable demographic trends and potential technological catch-up, could also continue to support the development of frontier markets going forward.

FrontierGDP_Revised

 

Dr. Mobius’ comments, opinions and analyses are for informational purposes only and should not be considered individual investment advice or a recommendation to invest in any security or to adopt any investment strategy. Because market and economic conditions are subject to rapid change, comments, opinions and analyses are rendered as of the date of the posting and may change without notice. This material is not intended as a complete analysis of every material fact regarding any country, region, market, industry, investment or strategy.  

All investments involve risks, including possible loss of principal. Foreign securities involve special risks, including currency fluctuations and economic and political uncertainties. Investments in emerging markets, of which frontier markets are a subset, involve heightened risks related to the same factors, in addition to those associated with these markets’ smaller size, lesser liquidity and lack of established legal, political, business and social frameworks to support securities markets. Because these frameworks are typically even less developed in frontier markets, as well as various factors including the increased potential for extreme price volatility, illiquidity, trade barriers and exchange controls, the risks associated with emerging markets are magnified in frontier markets.   

 


1. The MSCI World Index is a free float-adjusted market capitalization weighted index that is designed to measure the equity market performance of 23 developed markets. Indexes are unmanaged, and one cannot directly invest in an index.

2. The MSCI Frontier Markets Index is a free float-adjusted market capitalization index that is designed to measure equity market performance of 26 frontier markets. Indexes are unmanaged, and one cannot directly invest in an index.

3. Source: FactSet, MSCI World Index, MSCI Frontier Markets Index. Data as of January 31, 2014. © 2014 FactSet Research Systems Inc. All Rights Reserved. The information contained herein: (1) is proprietary to FactSet Research Systems Inc. and/or its content providers; (2) may not be copied or distributed; and (3) is not warranted to be accurate, complete or timely. Neither FactSet Research Systems Inc. nor its content providers are responsible for any damages or losses arising from any use of this information. MSCI makes no express or implied warranties or representations and shall have no liability whatsoever with respect to any MSCI data contained herein. The MSCI data may not be further redistributed or used as a basis for other indices or any securities or financial products. This report is not approved, reviewed or produced by MSCI. Methodology: The trailing P/E is calculated by taking the current stock price and dividing it by the trailing earnings per share for the past 12 months. Indexes are unmanaged, and one cannot invest directly in an index. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

4. Source: Ibid. The dividend yield quoted here is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as the income that may be received from any investment.

5. Diversification does not guarantee profits or protect against loss.

Mark Mobius

Mark Mobius

Mark Mobius, Ph.D., executive chairman of Templeton Emerging Markets Group, joined Templeton in 1987. Currently, he directs the Templeton research team which is based in 18 global emerging markets offices, and manages emerging markets portfolios. Dr. Mobius has been investing in global emerging markets for more than 40 years and has received numerous industry awards, including being named one of Bloomberg Markets Magazine’s “50 Most Influential People” in 2011.


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  1. Tiveair Alistar
    Tiveair Alistar 24 November, 2014, 20:39

    With growth in emerging markets decelerating in recent years, I am wondering where the next big growth story will be. I am more inclined to look at the frontier markets.

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