Emerging-Markets Stocks Have Rarely Been So Hated. It’s Time to Buy

The last time emerging markets were doing this badly the term “emerging markets” hadn’t been coined yet.

That spells opportunity, and the greatest spoils might go to those investors who are the boldest and also willing to look past that poorly-defined category. The benchmark for how emerging markets stocks are doing is a widely followed index maintained by MSCI that has returned less than 4% annually in the past five years, compared with nearly 12% for global equities and more than 15% for U.S. stocks.

Dig into any of those broad categories, though, and there are clear leaders and laggards. A whopping 65% of the MSCI All Country World Index’s market value, including nine of its top 10 stocks, were American as of the end of October. The MSCI Emerging Markets Index has been dragged down in large part since 2020 by China, where a housing crisis and a heavy-handed approach to technology firms by leader Xi Jinping have depressed valuations. Alibaba Group and Tencent Holdings were two of the world’s most valuable companies four years ago, before the tech crackdown.

If not for the massive surge of the MSCI index’s Chinese components in September on renewed stimulus hopes, the overall picture for emerging-markets stocks would be even worse. India, in no small part because it isn’t China, has seen huge foreign and domestic investor interest and now has the third largest weighting in the emerging-markets index. But it also is one of the world’s pricier markets .

Emerging markets outperformed developed market stocks in the century’s first decade as commodity prices boomed and the tech and housing bubbles dented the U.S. market. Today, though, they are much cheaper as a multiple of earnings, and not solely because of China.

Just buying an emerging-markets index fund and betting on the performance pendulum swinging back could be a decent strategy. Bolder investors might be able to do better: The most enticing opportunities are where skepticism is highest.

For example, Mexico and the multinational companies that use it as a base to sell products destined for the U.S. are in President-elect Donald Trump ’s crosshairs. Newly-elected leftist President Claudia Sheinbaum also faces violent drug cartels and protests over changes to the country’s judiciary. But the MSCI Mexico Index has gone absolutely nowhere, with a slightly negative return over the past decade and a forward price-to-earnings ratio of around 10 times—less than half that of the U.S. market.

And Mexico is pricey compared with South Africa, Brazil and Turkey, which fetch multiples on the same measure of about 9.8 times, eight times and five times, respectively. All three also face significant domestic problems and leaders who have mismanaged their economies. But even poorly-run countries can have long-term promise, and occasionally some short-term charms: Brazil’s dividend yield, for example, is about 6%, or five times that of the S&P 500 index.

Another way to profit as a savvy emerging-markets investor? By reading what is on the label and then ignoring it. MSCI’s benchmark has had an odd definition of what qualifies that mostly matters to professional money managers.

For example, both South Korea and Taiwan are major emerging markets, but their citizens are wealthier than those of developed Portugal or Greece. With leading high-tech companies like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co . and Samsung Electronics , educated workforces and excellent infrastructure, they have more in common with neighbouring Japan, a developed market. MSCI cites market access issues that hold them back. That might still make them attractive places to invest, but the rapid growth a country enjoys by becoming modern, educated and wealthy—the sort of thing that has people so excited about India’s long-term potential—are now behind them.

Getting booted from the index can create anomalies too. Israel, which is richer than Britain or France , was included in the emerging-markets index until 2010 for what seems like geographical reasons. Then it went from being a notable emerging-markets investing destination to irrelevancy for many fund managers.

Because it is the only officially “developed” market in the Middle East, Israel is now part of the little-tracked MSCI Europe and Middle East Index created that year instead of the more-followed MSCI Europe, which dates to 1986. It is also a minuscule part of MSCI EAFE, which tracks 21 non-U.S. developed markets. With world class healthcare and tech companies like Teva Pharmaceutical Industries and Check Point Software in the index, “Startup Nation’s” stocks trade at barely half of the forward price-to-earnings ratio of the tech-heavy U.S. market.

And there are other stock markets just waiting to join, or rejoin, the official emerging-markets club. By the time they do the best gains might have been had. Take Argentina , which was demoted to “stand-alone” status three years ago because it was difficult to invest there. It has had a blistering return in dollars of almost 50% a year in the three years through October compared with a negative return for the MSCI Emerging Markets Index over that time.

While far from a foolproof investing strategy, betting that the last shall be first and buying what feels uncomfortable could pay off when it comes to beaten-down emerging-markets stocks.

For decades, the world’s computing power has quietly expanded at an astonishing pace.

From the first transistor developed at Bell Labs in 1947 to modern processors containing billions and even trillions of transistors, each generation of technology has been faster, smaller and more powerful than the last.

But according to quantum physicist and technology entrepreneur David Reilly, that era of effortless progress is beginning to slow.

Reilly, CEO of Sydney-based Emergence Quantum and Professor of Physics at the University of Sydney, says the computing infrastructure underpinning modern economies is approaching fundamental physical limits.

And that could have enormous implications for finance, artificial intelligence and global investment.

Speaking at an industry event organised by Kanebridge International, Reilly said many critical parts of modern society depend on computing and the infrastructure used to process information.

The slowdown behind the tech boom

For years, the technology industry relied on a steady improvement known as Moore’s Law, where the number of transistors on a chip doubled roughly every two years.

More transistors meant more computing power, allowing faster software, smarter devices and ever-larger data systems.

Today, however, those gains are slowing.

“It feels to me very innate that I’m going to just find that next year there’s going to be another breakthrough,” Reilly said.

“But if you look at the data…there’s a slowing down, a roll off in performance that started some 10, 20 years ago.”

Rather than making chips dramatically faster, manufacturers are now largely increasing computing capacity by packing more transistors onto each processor.

The approach works, but it comes with growing complexity, higher costs and increasing energy demands.

The brute-force race for AI

That challenge is already visible in the massive data centres being built to support artificial intelligence.

In the race to dominate AI, companies are constructing vast computing facilities that consume huge amounts of electricity and water. Reilly described this expansion as a “brute force” approach driven by the global competition to develop advanced AI systems.

Yet the demand for computing power continues to accelerate.

Artificial intelligence, advanced robotics, healthcare research, pharmaceuticals and cybersecurity all require far more processing capacity than today’s systems can easily deliver.

The question now facing the technology sector is whether traditional computing can keep up.

Enter quantum computing

That is where quantum computing enters the conversation.

Unlike conventional computers, which process information using binary switches that represent ones and zeros, quantum computers exploit the unusual behaviour of particles at the atomic scale.

Reilly describes them as a fundamentally different type of machine.

“So a quantum computer is a wave computer,” he said.

Instead of processing information through simple on-off switches, quantum systems can use wave-like properties of particles to process many possible outcomes simultaneously.

Those waves can interact in complex ways, reinforcing correct solutions while cancelling out incorrect ones. In theory, this allows quantum systems to tackle certain types of problems dramatically faster than classical computers.

What it could mean for finance

The concept may sound abstract, but its potential applications are significant.

Quantum computers are expected to transform areas such as materials science, chemical modelling and pharmaceutical development.

They could also help solve complex optimisation problems in logistics, finance and risk management.

For financial institutions in particular, the technology could offer new tools for detecting fraud, analysing market behaviour and optimising portfolios.

But the shift will not happen overnight.

“One message to take away is that quantum is not going to suddenly solve all of your problems,” Reilly said.

Instead, he said quantum systems will likely complement existing computing technologies as part of a broader and more diverse computing ecosystem.

Why data centres may soon “go cold”

One key change already emerging is how computing systems are physically designed.

Many next-generation technologies, including quantum processors, operate far more efficiently at extremely low temperatures. As a result, future data centres may rely heavily on cryogenic cooling systems to manage heat and energy consumption.

Reilly believes that the shift will gradually reshape the computing industry.

“Over the next five years, you’re going to see data centres go cold,” he said.

“And as that happens, they almost drag with them new compute paradigms.”

Emergence Quantum, the company he co-founded, is focused on developing technologies to support that transition, including cryogenic electronics and integrated hardware platforms designed for quantum computing and energy-efficient systems.

A new technological era

For investors and businesses, the technology remains in its early stages. But the scale of global interest is growing rapidly.

Governments, research institutions and technology companies are investing heavily in quantum research, betting it could become a foundational technology for the next generation of computing.

For Reilly, the moment feels similar to earlier technological turning points.

In the 19th century, new discoveries in thermodynamics helped drive the development of steam engines and the Industrial Revolution. In the 20th century, advances in electromagnetism led to radio, television and eventually the internet.

Quantum physics, he suggests, could represent the next chapter in that story.

“Today we have, as a society, in our hands new physics that we’re just beginning to figure out what to do with,” Reilly said.

“But I think it’s an exciting time to be alive and watch what happens over the coming decades.”