Kazakhstan became famous when the notorious comedian Sacha Baron Cohen came out with his movie ‘Borat’. Here is more accurate information about the country:
1. It is the ninth largest country in the world by area.
2. It ranks 62nd in the world in terms of population.
3. The GDP growth has been in excess of 9% for each of the last five years.
4. It was the first former Soviet republic to repay all of its debt to the International Monetary Fund, seven years before it was due.
5. In 2002, the first country in the Commonwealth of Independent States to receive an investment-grade credit rating.
6. In 2003, they adopted a new tax code, dropping the personal income tax from 30% to 20%. In 2006, they dropped it again to 5% for personal income in the form of dividends and 10% for other personal income.
7. They have approximately 4 billion tons of proven recoverable oil reserves.
8. They just recently introduced bank deposit insurance.
9. It is the sixth-largest producer of grain in the world.
10. Kazakhstan is supposed to be where the apple originated.
11. It has the second largest uranium, chromium, lead, and zinc reserves in the world.
12. It has the fifth largest copper reserves in the world.
The following stocks are very low cap and should be considered extremely speculative.
BMB Munai Inc. (KAZ), which is a Kazakhstan based company that trades on the American Stock Exchange, buys, explores, develops, and produces crude oil and natural gas properties in Kazakhstan. The price to earnings ratio is 30.23 and the price to sales ratio is 9.59.
Transmeridian Exploration Inc. (TMY), is another American Stock Exchange traded company, which, although based in Houston, Texas, has its operations of acquisition, development, and production of oil and natural gas primarily in Kazakhstan. The stock has had negative earnings and a price sales ratio of 7.
Uranium One Inc. (SXRZF.PK), which trades on the Pink Sheets, owns uranium properties all over the world. In April 2007, the Company acquired UrAsia Energy Ltd in Kazakhstan. Although the company has been generating revenues for the past couple years, gross profit, operating income, and net income have been negative.
Cigma Metals Corp. (CGMX.PK) recently signed an agreement with Eureka Mining Plc whereby Cigma would earn up to 90% of the gold and precious metals from the Dostyk project in Kazakhstan. Earnings have been negative.
Kazakhtelecom (KZHXY.PK), also known as Kazakhtelekom, provides telephone services, Internet access, satellite networks, prepaid telephone cards, and wire broadcasting in Kazakhstan. Operating margin was 40.57% and return on average equity was 25.86% for the latest reported period.
The Third Millennium Russia Fund (TMRFX) is an open end fund which primarily invests in Russian companies but also invests in two major Kazakh stocks: Kazakhtelecom and Kazkommertsbank. The fund has been up 34.5% a year for the last five years.
There is an excellent article by Winston Kotzan about Kazakhstan related stocks at TheStreet.com, which includes Chevron (CVX) and Exxon Mobil (XOM) and their connections to Kazakhstan.
Author does not own any of the above.
By Fred Fuld at Stockerblog.com
No comments:
Post a Comment