The Brazilian rally went into high gear after former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was detained, adding to speculation that support will grow to impeach his successor, President Dilma Rousseff.
“Be it on aggregate debt to GDP, corporate debt to equity, free cash flow, ROIC or Altman Z score, LatAm fares poorly against EMEA and Asia… that said, by no means are we suggesting more bearishness on LatAm… LatAm companies’ margins have melted away to a 20-year low… a high capex-to-sales ratio has taken ROIC to a two-decade low, drying up FCF… the good news is, LatAm firms cut capex 22% in 2015 and are expected to further lower it… still, we continue to prefer Asia over LatAm,” according to a Citigroup note posted by Teresa Rivas of Barron’s.
Last month, Mexico’s central bank surprisingly boosted interest rates, a move that has helped the iShares MSCI Mexico Capped ETF (NYSEArca: EWW) trade higher.
iShares Latin American 40 ETF
