This Investment Is Dirt-Cheap... And It's Way Off Wall Street's Radar
By Dr. Steve Sjuggerud
September 5, 2008
If you'd put $10,000 in the investment I'm going to share with you today back on November 1, 1974... four years later, you'd have $26,500.
That's a total profit of 165%! Right now, this investment is the cheapest it's been since November 1974. And it's likely we can get a similar return – 165% in four years – if we buy at these levels.
Even better... this investment has nothing to do with banks, oil, or real estate. It's totally off the Wall Street radar, which is just the way I like it!
I'm talking about Japanese stocks... which you might not have considered before. Let me show you what happened in 1974:
| 1) |
The Japanese yen strengthened from 0.33 cents to 0.52 cents in four years – that's 58%. |
| 2) |
Japan's TOPIX index, a broad measure of the Japanese stock market, went from 259 to 436 – that's 68%. |
So $10,000 invested in the TOPIX would have turned into roughly $16,800. And thanks to the soaring yen, when you converted your money back into dollars, you had roughly $26,500.
I covered why the yen should soar in a recent DailyWealth. It's happening already. So let's take a look at stocks...
The WisdomTree Japan High-Yielding Equity Index follows all the big names in Japan (Toyota, Honda, etc.). And right now, it's actually a better value than the TOPIX index was in November 1974. Back then, Japanese stocks sold for 13 times earnings and yielded 3%. Today, the WisdomTree index trades for 12.4 times earnings. And it pays a dividend of 3%.
As a group, the stocks in the index trade at 1.15 times book value... You can never buy world-class names that close to book value! And the index is simple to own. A fund with the symbol DNL mimics the performance, though you don't capture all the yield.
So today, you can easily buy the biggest names in Japanese stocks – at an even better value than at the stock market bottom of November 1974. Japan has come a long way since then... These names shouldn't be this cheap!
And don't worry... The index doesn't just hold car companies. Biotech and pharmaceutical stocks make up 15%. Boring utilities make up 14%. And if you're nervous about banks and real estate, don't be... Combined, they make up less than 1%.
While you can buy Japan in this fund at the best value since 1974, I'm not ready to "pull the trigger" just yet. First, if the yen strengthens as much as I expect, that could hurt Japanese exporters (like, well, Toyota and Honda). Secondly, we don't have our uptrend. Japan's 18-year bear market continues.
Japan could be the buy of the decade... just which decade is the question!
So my True Wealth readers are waiting on the uptrend. And when we do buy, we won't pick up the big-name exporters like the ones in the WisdomTree index... Instead, we'll go after smaller stocks.
We have two ways to make money here... If the yen goes up or if Japanese stocks go up. If both happen – like they did after November 1974 – you could make extraordinary profits: 165% in four years is what we saw last time around. So keep an eye on Japan...
Good investing,
Steve
P.S. We're so excited that Japanese stocks are at their cheapest prices in 34 years, we're gearing up to launch an investment letter in Japan. Click here to see where we are now... We're still looking for the right editor. If you think you've got what it takes, please let me know at editorialfeedback@dailyweath.com.
Editor's note: Steve Sjuggerud is a regular contributor to DailyWealth, a free investment newsletter focused on the world's best contrarian opportunities. We write with a simple belief in mind: You don't have to take big risks to make big money with your investments.
Sign up today to read more investment ideas from Steve Sjuggerud.
| 
