After oscillating back and forth from a sideways trading range, the Argentina exchange traded fund has rallied to its 52-week high, with bargain-hunting investors trying to get pick up an undervalued emerging market.
The Global X FTSE Argentina 20 ETF (NYSEArca: ARGT) has gained 15.6% over the past month and surged 24.4% from its recent June 24 low.
“After Sunday’s elections and with a likely change of course in the economy, there were orders from abroad,” Adrian Mayoral, a trader at local brokerage Mayoral Bursatil, said in a Wall Street Journal article. “Some outside investors want back in [to Argentina]. A lot of local assets are undervalued and there are a lot of [investors]who want to invest.”
Trang Ho for Investor’s Business Daily points out that ARGT has upside potential as a reversion-to-the-mean or “catch-up” play as the fund has fell behind other global markets. ARGT
The Argentina ETF’s outperformance is partly attributed to two of its largest holdings, Telecom Argentina (NYSE: TEO) and Banco Macro (NYSE: BMA), which have gained 15% and 16% this week, respectively. TEO is 5.6% of the ETF and BMA is 5.2%.
Potential investors should be aware that ARGT has a hefty weighting in Tenaris 20.1% and Mercadolibre 20.0%.
According to Alta Vista Research, ARGT component stocks have a projected earnings per share growth of 33.5% this year and rise 20% in 2014 after falling 25% in 2012.