Mobius: Russian Stocks Offer Major Upside

Mark Mobius, executive chairman of Templeton Emerging Markets Group, says that the Russian stock market provides investors with a tremendous value right now. Russian stocks are down 36 percent since the end of 2014, although they have rebounded and are up 20 percent so far in 2016. Still, Russian shares are trading at 0.67 price-to-book, which is more than 50 percent below the MSCI Emerging Markets index.

Mobius says Russia has been hurt by two factors – the massive decline of oil and international sanctions. “Once sanctions are released, then the market is going to do very well,” he says.

Other pros are seeing value in Russia as well given its rock bottom valuations and very low expectations. Below is a three year chart of the RTS Russian Index from The Financial Times.

Russian Chart