One of the hottest investment regions on my radar right now is one you may not think of as a hot global marketplace. While BRIC nations Brazil, Russia, India and China dominate the international investing scene, one nation is quietly becoming the most profitable region for investors right now. Namely, Israel.
Simple trading strategies that focus on the hottest industry have already identified the big investment opportunity in Tech right now. And there is no hotter tech market than Israel right now. Israel’s “Silicon Valley,” which is centered around Haifa, contains approximately 3,000 start-up companies that specialize in medical devices and imaging, semiconductor manufacturing systems, wireless communication solutions, security software solutions, enterprise software solutions and cutting-edge Internet applications.
Interestingly, Israel features more start-up companies per capita than any other country in the world and many stock market experts think the Haifa region is just as influential as Silicon Valley. There are more than 40 venture funds in Israel that help to fund many of these start-up companies that fuel the country’s entrepreneurial spirit. These are not penny stock investments — though some companies are fairly small, these picks are traded as ADRs and have fairly large customer bases.
Not surprisingly, high-technology products now dominate Israel’s exports. Did you know, for example, that “flash memory” was invented in Israel? Flash memory technology continues to “over-power” portable devices, such as the iPad and Amazon’s Kindle.
The fact that Israel no longer is classified as an “emerging country” has caused many institutional investors to boost their accumulation of many of Israel’s best companies during the past several months. And, based on the recent strong performance of stocks in this market, it appears that this institutional accumulation persists — which is great news for top Israeli stocks!
Here are just a few up and coming tech stocks in Israel you should take a look at:
Nova Measuring Instruments (NVMI) makes innovative optical equipment that measures microscopic images used to check the design of tiny microchips and other high-tech gear. The company’s NovaScan and NovaTrack systems are integrated into wafer polishers and other semiconductor processing equipment to measure the thickness of semiconductor layers during critical steps of chip manufacturing. In a nutshell, without Nova equipment performing quality control, chipmakers could wind up spending millions replacing or repairing electronic devices. Israel’s Nova posted an incredible 179% increase in revenue for the first period of this year. NVMI also announced a surge in earnings, from a loss of $1.6 million, or $0.08 per share, last year, to a gain of $2.8 million, or $0.12 per share, this year. The company reported that its semiconductor and computer memory business performed especially well. In light of the positive results, the company revised year-end guidance upward to between $61 million and $66 million.
B Communications
(BCOM) provides a range of broadband and traditional voice services in Israel. Its broadband services include broadband Internet access with a suite of value-added services, specialized data services and server hosting, as well as local telephony via the Internet and a WiFi network. The company’s traditional voice services comprise outgoing and incoming international phone calls, hubbing, roaming and signaling and calling card services. BCOM stock has been battered so far in 2010, down about 16% year-to-date, but this presents a big buying opportunity for investors.The company recently acquired Bezeq, the largest telecommunications provider in Israel, which will help generate more business for the company. Please note, however, that B Communications has very little liquidity in daily volume so exercise care when trading this stock. Always use a limit order when trading stocks like BCOM.
Radware (RDWR) is an innovative company that makes networks work smarter, searching out the best path for data and optimizing traffic. This allows companies to run their IT systems more efficiently instead of having to pony up big money for new hardware. As businesses continue to look for ways to keep costs low, RDWR provides an economical alternative to upgrading networks by simply making existing equipment function better. Radware has topped Wall Street earnings estimates in each of the last four consecutive quarterly reports, and continues to show strong momentum. Radware is up nearly +40% so far in 2010 with no signs of slowing down.
As of this writing, Louis Navellier was recommending all three of these stocks in his Global Growth investment newsletter.
