ETFs to Bet on South Africa's Rise

ETFs are a way into South Africa, which has just been invited to the next meeting of the BRIC nations.
By Roger Nusbaum ,

NEW YORK (

TheStreet

) -- News over the weekend could make South Africa a more attractive investment destination. As

Bloomberg

reports, South Africa has been offered a seat at the table for the next meeting of the BRIC group of major emerging markets, Brazil, Russia, India and China.

South Africa is a much smaller country with a population of only 49 million, gross domestic product in 2009 of $277 billion, per capita income of $2,751 and an unemployment rate well north of 20%. South Africa certainly has the feel of still being an emerging market but the story on the ground is improving albeit with a long way to go. The country is viewed by the BRIC nations as a sort of gateway to Sub-Saharan Africa.

The simplest way in would be the

iShares MSCI South Africa Index Fund

(EZA) - Get Report

, a broad-based, large-cap focused exchange-traded fund. At the sector level, the fund is heaviest in materials at 27%, followed by 24% in financials, consumer discretionary at 13% and telecom at 12% before getting much smaller. Some of the larger stocks in the fund are

MTN Group

, a telecom provider,

Sasol

(SSL) - Get Report

, which creates synthetic oil by liquefying coal among other energy-related businesses, and

Naspers

, a media company. For a little context, the iShares MSCI South Africa Index Fund dropped slightly more than the

S&P 500

from peak to trough in the financial crisis but has recovered to that peak while the S&P 500 is still down roughly 20% from its 2007 peak.

An alternative way in with ETFs is to build exposure via the South Africa weightings in funds that are narrower than EZA. For example, the

First Trust ISE Global Platinum Index Fund

(PLTM) - Get Report

, which owns shares in companies that mine platinum group metals, has a 32% weighting in South Africa with several of the largest holdings being from South Africa. The platinum fund combined with the

EGshares Emerging Market Consumer Fund

(ECON) - Get Report

, which is 14% invested in South Africa, could offer a more focused way into the country.

Of course, there are plenty of individual stocks to consider as well. There are gold miners like

AngloGold Ashanti

(AU) - Get Report

or

Gold Fields

(GFI) - Get Report

, and platinum miners like

Impala Platinum Holdings

, all plays on where the country will derive its prosperity.

There also are consumer stocks like

Shoprite Holdings

, which is where an ascending middle class will be able to spend some money.

JSE Ltd.

is the Johannesburg stock exchange and a play on the evolution of capital markets in South Africa. Another stock to mention is

Pretoria Portland Cement

, which benefits from the build up and out of the country's infrastructure.

As implied, there are issues in South Africa with poverty, unemployment and at times inflation. Buying into South Africa now is to go along with the BRIC nations and bet that the country will become more globally relevant and that the quality of life there will improve.

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At the time of publication, Nusbaum was long Pretoria Portland Cement, although positions may change at any time.

Roger Nusbaum is a portfolio manager with Your Source Financial of Phoenix, and the author of Random Roger's Big Picture Blog. Under no circumstances does the information in this column represent a recommendation to buy or sell stocks. Nusbaum appreciates your feedback;

click here

to send him an email.

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