With the European sovereign debt crisis taking center stage last month, the United States economy still in tatters and uprisings continuing in parts of the Middle East, uncertainty prevailed in the markets. Surrounded by such volatility, what is a Middle Eastern investor to do?
For an expert opinion on how to navigate the markets, Executive spoke to Ammar Bakheet, head of asset management at Audi Bank, and Khaled Zeidan, general manager at MedSecurities, a BankMed subsidiary.
The scoop
Bakheet remains very conservative in his approach, as he believes that the market turbulence will persist at least until the end of the year. However, he sees significant opportunities in the current environment and recommends buying high quality, fixed-income instruments rated triple B or better, and big blue chip companies with high dividend yields. Zeidan also favors fixed-income and equities; he believes equities are very cheap and advises to buy defensive names — such as telecommunications and utilities — as they have been beaten down badly along with the growth sectors like technology. Both Bakheet and Zeidan say they would avoid gold. Bakheet believes buying gold now is a gamble, and Zeidan prefers investing in productive assets.
Both Bakheet and Zeidan are optimistic about the investment opportunities they see in the Middle East and North Africa. According to Zeidan, the interesting thing about the region is that it offers solid names with high dividend yields. Saudi Telecom Company (STC), as an example, is one of the largest telecom companies in the region and in emerging markets generally, and has had a consistent dividend yield of 7.5 percent on a currency that is pegged to the US dollar. Zeidan pointed out that this is better than buying a corporate or government bond as the yield is more attractive. His favorite regional countries to invest in are Saudi Arabia and Turkey, as both countries have solid growth, relative political stability and a young population. According to Bakheet, with oil prices still holding high, the region is raking in revenue and many infrastructure projects are being announced. His favorite MENA countries to invest in are Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.
As for long-term stock recommendations, Bakheet suggests buying Mobily, the second mobile telecommunications company in Saudi Arabia. He would also buy Maaden, the largest mining company in Saudi Arabia. Zeidan on the other hand would buy leading Turkish banks due to the fact that their stock prices have been severely beaten down, yet they have great balance sheets and no exposure to Europe. He would also buy into the telecommunications sector in Saudi Arabia, such as Mobily and STC.
