Did you know that the literacy rate in the Philippines is 93.4%, according to the latest information provided by the Philippines National Statistics Office? The country has an approximate gross domestic product of $189 billion, making it the 46th largest economy in the world. In 2007, the GDP growth was 7.1%. It is considered to be one of the 'Next 11 Countries', according to Goldman Sachs, which means it has a high potential of becoming one of the the world's largest economies in this century, along with the BRIC countries.
According to the free list of Philippine stocks at WallStreetNewsNetwork.com, there are over a dozen Philippines based companies that trade in the United States.
Probably the most popular with US investors is Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PHI) due to the fact that it yields 4.8%. This telecommunications, wireless, and Internet company trades at 11.4 times current earnings and 11.2 times forward earnings. The company's current dividend payouts of $499 million is easily covered by the company's operating cash flow of $1.82 billion.
Another way to play the Philippines market is through an ETF, the iShares MSCI Philippines Investable Market index (EPHE), which has a goal of matching the performance of equity securities in the top 99% in market capitalization of Philippine equity markets. This ETF was up 13.52% for the last three months, versus only 8.27% for the Pacific/Asia Stock Index.
For a list of all the major Philippines stocks available to US investors, check out the free list at WallStreetNewsNetwork.com, which can be downloaded, sorted, and updates.
Disclosure: Author did not own any of the above at the time the article was written.
By Stockerblog.com
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