Jupiter's Shaftan: Russia is ridiculously cheap

RUSSIAN EQUITIES

Elena Shaftan, manager of the Jupiter Emerging European Opportunities fund, says Russian equities are trading at a 50% discount to other Global Emerging Markets.

We believe the Russian market is misunderstood and suffers from negative perception of the political environment. In the meantime, economic fundamentals are strong and companies are performing well operationally while share valuations are incredibly low. I outline below some of my current thoughts on investing in Russia: Economy: The Russian economy is solid with GDP expected to grow 4% this year. Retail sales and investment both rose by over 10% in the first quarter while wholesale lending increased by 27% in March. Retail lending grew even faster at 43%, but still accounts for less ...