Investing in Brazil: What You Need to Know

TheStreet.com TV's Gregg Greenberg recently reported the Allianz NACM Emerging Markets Opportunities Fund AOTAX has returned an average of 42% annually over the past three years.

13% of the fund's portfolio is in Brazilian stocks.

Why?

"Brazil is a good to country [to invest in] right now because domestic demand is skyrocketing, interest rates are dropping, the currency is strengthening... [Brazil] has good companies exposed to all the trends you see around the world," says Horacio Valeiras, one of the NACM Emerging Markets Opportunities Fund managers.

To learn more about investing in Brazil, here is a series of recent angles from TheStreet.com.

Brazilian Stocks Not Slowing Down (Video)

Valeiras says commodity companies like CVRD [Vale RIO] and Petrobras PBR remain Brazil's growth engine.

Watch the video.

---

From Cheap Oil-Services Stocks:

Geographically, Brazil is a key source of new demand for deep-water rigs, especially with the recent discoveries in the region. Brazil along with Angola and India are three major developing basins of business for rig companies.

In the past six months, PetroBras has discovered three super-giant oil fields in Brazil's offshore Santos Basin. If the estimates of 33 billion barrels in reserve from Carioca-Sugar Loaf prove correct, then this ranks as the third-largest oil field in the world after Saudi Arabia's Ghawar (66 billion barrels) and Kuwait's Greater Burgan (46 billion barrels). This oil bonanza is in addition to the other two new Brazil finds, Tupi and Jupiter, which are estimated to contain about 6 to 8 billion barrels each.

With these estimates, Brazil may now hold the world's eighth-largest conventional oil reserves. This is a paradigm-changing event. Some analysts are even speculating that Brazil may potentially join Venezuela and Ecuador as the third South American member of OPEC.

Read the full article.

---

China Watch: A Sizzling Brazilian Play (Video)

Brazilian company Vale, the world's largest producer of iron ore, is actually one stealth China play that you should consider jumping on.

Watch the video.

For more on China, check out "Investing in China: What You Need to Know."

---

From Cramer's 'Mad Money' Recap: Brazil Rocks:

According to Cramer, the Brazilian economy has a lot going for it. "Brazil is a country in charge of it's own destiny," he said.

Cramer noted the Brazilian currency, the Real, is one of only a few currencies that's appreciating in value. Even billionaire investor Warren Buffet is long the Real, he noted. Cramer also touted Brazil for its energy independence and abundance of natural resources.

Read the full article.

---

From Emerging Markets Still Show Promise:

David Lazenby, portfolio manager of the $560 million Legg Mason Emerging Markets LMEMX fund believes the outsized gains may be over, but there are still solid returns to be had in so-called less-developed countries, primarily due to improved fundamentals .

What is the impact of a slowing U.S. economy on emerging market stocks?

Some emerging-market economies are more tied to the U.S. than others. Certainly export-driven economies in Asia, such as South Korea and Taiwan, are heavily influenced by U.S. growth. Other markets, like Brazil, are less linked to U.S. growth and more linked to strength of commodity demand -- which is more dependent on infrastructure development in the emerging

Our favorite Brazilian stock is Unibanco UBB, which is closing the return-on-equity gap to the domestic leaders Itau ITU and Bradesco BBD but trading at cheaper valuations .

Read full article.

---

From 'Fast Money' Recap: Brazil Booming

Chart of the Day [February 27]

"Fast Money" featured the iShares MSCI Brazil EWZ, due to its 20% one-month run to the upside. Seymour noted that with a budget surplus, Brazil is now a net creditor to the world. He expected a pullback in the short term but advocated buying for the long term.

Read the full article.

---

From Virginia Tech's $5 Million 'SEED' Scores With Brazilian Stocks:

While the stock market may be giving us a rough ride domestically, growth is still a reality in emerging markets like the BRIC countries.

Many of SEED's top performers are foreign companies listed in the U.S. as ADRs (SEED is only allowed to invest in domestically-traded securities).

In fact, of the group's top five performing holdings, three (Petroleo Brasileiro [Petrobras], Vale and Companhia de Saneamento Basico [Sabesp] SBS) are headquartered in Brazil (the "B" in BRIC).

Read the full article.

To stay up to date on Brazil and other emerging markets, bookmark and visit TheStreet.com's Playing Emerging Markets section.