Add the $1.75 billion Market Vectors Russia ETF (NYSE:
RSX
) to the list of emerging markets funds that look attractive
on the basis of valuation
. RSX, the oldest Russia ETF and the largest by assets, has
gained 4.1 percent in the past three months, but last week's 3.1
percent tumble has the fund trading a massive discount to the
iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Index Fund (NYSE:
RSX
).
The discount is 32 percent to be precise and the widest since
early August,
Bloomberg reported
. As of September 30, RSX had a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.54
and a price-to-book ratio of 0.88, according to Market Vectors
data. By comparison, EEM had a P/E ratio of 17.3 a price-to-book
ratio of three as of September 28.
Through the first four months of this year, RSX was no worse
than the second-best performer among a quintet comprised of
itself, EEM, the WisdomTree India Earnings ETF (NYSE:
EPI
), the iShares MSCI Brazil Index Fund (NYSE:
EWZ
) and the iShares FTSE China 25 Index Fund (NYSE:
FXI
). Now, on a year-to-date basis, RSX is the second-worst
performer, trailing only EWZ.
RSX, which devotes 41.1 percent of its weight to energy
stocks, is up 5.1 percent this year, but that gain has been
accrued with volatility of 29.3 percent. That is 320 basis points
higher than the next closest of the aforementioned funds, that
being EPI.
Tumbling oil prices have hampered Russian equities and RSX.
The U.S. Oil Fund (NYSE:
USO
) is off almost seven percent in the past month, a slide that
would spell bad news for any ETF with a 41 percent to the energy
group. Interestingly, Market Vectors
is
careful to note RSX
has the lowest energy allocation of the major Russia ETFs.
By comparison, the iShares MSCI Russia Capped Index Fund
(NYSE:
ERUS
) devotes almost 56 percent of its weight to oil and gas stocks.
That ETF has a P/E ratio of 8.4 and a price-to-book ratio of
almost 2.6.
This is how deep the current discount is for Russian equities.
The current forward P/E of the Russian equity market is 5.2 and
the price-to-book ratio is 0.8,
according to J.P. Morgan
. The 10-year average P/E ratio is 7.9 with a price-to-book of
1.3.
The current price/cash flow for Russian equities highlights a
case for calling stocks in the world's largest non-OPEC
oil-producing nation cheap. Russian stocks sport a P/CF of 3.6,
well below the 10-year average of 4.9, according to J.P.
Morgan.
Compelling valuations may not be enough to lure investors to
Russian ETFs and the stocks those funds hold. Oil prices are
tumbling amid slowing global growth and international investors
are fretting over what another possible 12 years of Vladimir
Putin in power could mean for the Russian economy. Not to
mention, EEM has outpaced RSX by 140 basis points since the last
time the latter traded at such a steep discount to the
former.
The recent performance of RSX seems to indicate investors are
not biting at the valuation carrot, at least not yet. Based on
P/E and price-to-book, RSX is far cheaper than EWZ, FXI and the
iShares S&P India Nifty 50 Index Fund (NASDAQ:
INDY
). Yet over the past month, RSX is the worst performer in that
quartet by a wide margin.
Russia backers can find solace in the fact that eventually,
emerging markets bulls do embrace attractive valuations. In large
part, that explains the
torrid pace
set by China ETFs over the past month. Then again, some investors
had been calling Chinese equities cheap for over a year before
FXI and friends legitimately rallied.
For more on emerging markets ETFs, click
here
.
(c) 2012 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment
advice. All rights reserved.