Unfortunately not all investors in the UK and abroad are as clued up as they could be, so we’ve been at pains more recently to identify a number of investment strategies that could help you stave off retirement poverty.

In a recent article I selected some of the best dividend shares from the FTSE 250 that should more than offset any shortfall caused by the State Pension. Given the positive response to these picks from our audience, I’m at it again today, looking at two great pharmaceutical stocks that could help you to retire on a fortune: Hutchison China MediTech (LSE:HCM) and Animalcare (LSE: ANCR).

Tech This Out

Hutchison isn’t turning a profit right now. It isn’t expected to turn a profit by the end of the decade at least. But share investors who are in it for the long haul should give the Asia-focused medicines giant close consideration on the back of its bulging product pipeline.

On the immediate horizon, the market waits with baited breath for news on the company’s oncology treatment fruquintinib for the remainder of the year. It is expecting approval and launch of the product in China for colorectal cancer in the months ahead, and is also seeking Phase III testing results for lung cancer application soon.

Things are likely to remain exciting in 2019 and beyond. Following positive Phase II data on its savolitinib cancer battler, Hutchison has begun exploring the possibility of accelerated approval from Chinese regulators to bring the treatment to market sooner. In addition, another major drug, tumour treatment sulfatinib, is due to begin Phase III studies in China next year.

Hutchison’s global expansion strategy also offers plenty of reason to expect earnings to detonate in the years ahead. During Q2, its Hutchison MediPharma (US) division started operating in New Jersey, a move designed to bolster its R&D and regulatory activities outside of Asia and also prepare the ground for new product launches.

Animal magic

The ballooning market for veterinary medicines also makes fellow AIM stock Animalcare a hot growth prospect.

Investor appetite soured in the spring after it warned that the impact of a changing sales mix on gross margins, allied with a recent rise in competitive pressures, would see earnings fall short of expectations in 2018. This subsequent re-rating now leaves Animalcare dealing on a forward P/E ratio of 12.6 times, and this represents a brilliant time for patient investors to jump in, I believe.

Revenues at the business rose 6.4% in the six months to June, it advised in August, and its bubbly pipeline promises more impressive top-line progress. It has several product launches slated for the remainder of 2018 and for the start of next year,  including Cortacare which received approval from the Committee for Medicinal Products for Veterinary European Medicines in June.

An added reason to investing in Animalcare is that the business, unlike the vast majority of pharma players, offers quite fatty dividend yields — for 2018 and 2019 these sit at 4.2% and 4.3% respectively. There’s still a lot to cheer over at the business, and especially at current prices. It’s a great buy in my book.

The post Don’t worry about the State Pension! These 2 pharma stocks could make you VERY wealthy appeared first on The Twelfth Magpie.

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Royston Wild has no position in any of the shares mentioned. The Motley Fool UK has no position in any of the shares mentioned. Views expressed on the companies mentioned in this article are those of the writer and therefore may differ from the official recommendations we make in our subscription services such as Share Advisor, Hidden Winners and Pro. Here at The Motley Fool we believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors.

Over the course of your stock-picking career you’ll no doubt have studied your fair share of price charts, perhaps splattered with a handful of technical indicators showing moving averages, volume, and so on. Personally, I look at hundreds of charts each week to get a feel for price action and momentum, but that’s because I have a technical background, and also because I’m a little sad.

Missed opportunities

Very often you’ll come across a company that you’d previously dismissed as being too risky, only to discover some years later that the business has morphed into a £1bn monster. As investors we often have to deal with the negative emotions that arise from such missed opportunities, those who missed out on ASOS and Boohoo.Com will know exactly what I’m talking about.

That said, we can’t just go chasing after tomorrow’s hidden winners willy nilly – that would certainly be a recipe for disaster. The trick is to separate the wheat from the chaff, the valuable from the worthless. So today I’m looking at two AIM-listed companies that I believe could turn out to be monster stocks of the future.

Fighting fraud and cybercrime

First up is GB Group (LSE: GBG), the global specialist in identity data intelligence. The Chester-based technology group helps companies and governments fight fraud and cyber crime, specialising in areas such as fraud, risk & compliance, employee screening, and customer & location intelligence.

With both governments and individual companies becoming increasingly wary of fraud and cybercrime in particular, it will perhaps come as no surprise that GBG has more-than-doubled its revenues and pre-tax profits since 2014.

A storming year

The group boasts a strong renewal stream from its existing customer base, while also attracting new, high-profile customers to its growing portfolio. I see a bright future for GBG, with the business well positioned to meet the growing demand for identity data intelligence products.

The downside is that after a storming year, the shares are trading on very high rating of 36 times forward earnings for FY2018, so I would suggest adding it to your watch list to buy on any weakness during the coming months.

Promising cancer drugs

My second offering comes from the orient – Hong Kong to be precise. Hutchison China MediTech (LSE: HCM), better known as Chi-Med. It is an AIM-listed biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing targeted therapies for oncology and immunological diseases for the global market.

Last year, global market sales of oncology drugs grew by 11% to $175.7bn making it the largest treatment area in the global pharmaceutical market, with a 17% market share. But in China, despite being home to 8.1m cancer patients, or about 20%-30% of those in the world, market sales of oncology drugs were just $7.3bn, or around 4% of the global market. This clearly indicates a huge opportunity for Chi-Med in its domestic market, as well as overseas.

Despite rapidly-growing revenues, the company is not yet profitable as funds continue to be pumped into research and development. But with a number of promising cancer drugs in the pipeline this won’t be the case for very long. The share price is riding high after more-than-doubling to £58 in the last 12 months alone, so this is another one to add to your watch list in 2018.

The post 2 monster stocks in the making I’d buy for 2018 appeared first on The Twelfth Magpie.

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Bilaal Mohamed has no position in any shares mentioned. The Motley Fool UK owns shares of and has recommended ASOS. The Motley Fool UK has recommended boohoo.com. Views expressed on the companies mentioned in this article are those of the writer and therefore may differ from the official recommendations we make in our subscription services such as Share Advisor, Hidden Winners and Pro. Here at The Motley Fool we believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors.

China syndrome

This AIM-listed biopharmaceutical company, also known as Chi-Med, aims to become a global leader in targeted therapies for oncology and immunological diseases, and investors have bought into the story with the share price soaring an incredible 885% in the past five years alone. The runaway success story continues, with the shares up 56% in the last six months alone.

Today the company reported its unaudited financial results for the six months ended 30 June, and they look strong, if a little unexciting, as the share price is broadly flat this morning. Group revenue jumped 21% to a record $126.6m, up from $104.5m in the first half of 2016. Chi-Med generated consolidated revenues of $22.7m, only slightly up on last year’s $22.3m, aided by milestone payments of $4.5m from Lilly, $5m from AstraZeneca, and service fee payments from Lilly, AstraZeneca and Nutrition Science Partners, the firm’s 50/50 joint venture with Nestlé Health Science.

Profit and loss

The group also incurs major research and development expenses as it pursues 31 active or completing clinical trials, which totalled $31.6m in the first half, up slightly from $31.2m. Chi-Med group operating profit was $6.3m, up 18.87% on $5.3m in 2016. The group boasts a solid cash position, with available resources of $192.5m on 30 June, up from $173.7m on 31 December. Chi-Med received first-half dividends from its non-consolidated joint ventures of $42.6m, up from $15.9m in 2016. 

As these results show, Hutchison China Meditech is all about the future. It has posted a pre-tax loss for each of the past three years (2014: $5m, 2015: $10.54m, 2016: $47.36m) and City analysts predict it will lose $39.92m in full-year 2017 and $35.14m in 2018. What matters is the quality of its drugs pipeline, which will drive company profitability in the longer run. Today’s results include a dizzying list of drug applications, registration studies, pivotal Phase III studies, clinical drug candidates, drug evaluations and proof-of-concept data.

The drugs may work

Obviously, investors are in no position to work out whether these will be a success and as we saw last week with FTSE 100 pharmo behemoth AstraZeneca, unexpected setbacks can punish the share price. However, Hutchison China Meditech has had its share of successes, and the pipeline is strong.

Progress may be erratic. In 2016, the company posted full-year revenues of $216.8m, almost 10 times the $22.37m it reported five years earlier. However, forecasters reckon the revenues could dip to $181.56m in 2017, before recovering to a new company record $225.69m in 2018. However, this suggests it could struggle to repeat recent breakneck rates of growth.

Despite its recent successes, it remains relatively high risk. But the potential rewards are high as well, as investors who were wiser than me and got in early will happily testify.

The post This remarkable nine-bagger has further to go appeared first on The Twelfth Magpie.

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Harvey Jones has no position in any shares mentioned. The Motley Fool UK has recommended AstraZeneca. Views expressed on the companies mentioned in this article are those of the writer and therefore may differ from the official recommendations we make in our subscription services such as Share Advisor, Hidden Winners and Pro. Here at The Motley Fool we believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors.

Hybrid strategy

The Shanghai-based pharmaceutical company has an interesting hybrid strategy — it both develops pharmaceutical products and distributes them via 2,200 sales representatives across China. That’s an unusual approach in the industry, but it has so far been a success for the company.

The prescription drugs business is seen by the company as “a profitable and high growth platform” to launch its new products. And along with the benefits of revenue synergies, the business generates strong and steady cash flows, which offers diversification benefits and reduces its reliance on external financing.

One interesting growth driver that could push the stock forward is its promising pipeline of new drug treatments for cancer and inflammation. Chi-Med has eight drug candidates, with 30 active clinical trials currently under way. It also has extensive licensing, co-development and commercialisation partnership arrangements with big pharma players, including AstraZeneca and Eli Lilly.

The company today announced that it had initiated a Phase III trial of its savolitinib drug, with the aim that it could one day treat a rare form of kidney cancer. Chi-Med had been developing the drug with AstraZeneca, and the initiation of the late-stage trial triggered a $5m milestone payment to the company from the pharma giant.

“Based on the results of our Phase II study, we believe savolitinib has the potential to bring meaningful clinical benefit to patients with c-MET-driven PRCC,” it said.

Since its IPO back in 2006, Chi-Med has done very well by shareholders, with the value of its shares up almost 1,300%.

Cash windfall?

In other news today, mining giant Rio Tinto (LSE: RIO) announced that its shareholders had voted overwhelmingly in favour of the sale of its Australian coal assets to China-backed Yancoal Australia for $2.69bn.

The move comes as part of Rio’s efforts to reduce its exposure to the carbon-intensive fuel, which has come under increasing regulatory pressures. From now, the mining giant’s growth strategy would focus primarily on just three commodities: iron, aluminium and copper.

In today’s announcement, Chairman Jan du Plessis did not say whether the company would return the proceeds from the sale to shareholders, in spite of growing calls to increase buybacks and raise dividends. But given that Rio has one of the strongest balance sheets in the mining sector, with net debt of just $9.6bn and a gearing ratio of 17%, the likelihood that shareholders would at some point receive a significant windfall seems high.

Thanks to recent big cuts to its capital spending budget, improvements to operating cash costs, asset sales and higher commodity prices, Rio’s operating cash flow has recently improved substantially. In 2016, it generated free cash flow of $5.8bn, up from $0.7bn in the prior year, and as such, the miner returned about $3.6bn in cash to shareholders over the past year.

Looking ahead, City analysts expect Rio’s underlying earnings are set to climb 59% in 2017. If these estimates are accurate, they would leave shares in the company trading at just 8.1 times its expected earnings this year.

The post This forgotten growth stock deserves more attention appeared first on The Twelfth Magpie.

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Jack Tang has no position in any shares mentioned. The Motley Fool UK has recommended Rio Tinto. Views expressed on the companies mentioned in this article are those of the writer and therefore may differ from the official recommendations we make in our subscription services such as Share Advisor, Hidden Winners and Pro. Here at The Motley Fool we believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors.

The impact of wide risk aversion — combined with a failure of traders to factor in a possible Brexit — has seen the FTSE 100 lose 6% of its value since Friday’s open. The index is now below 6,000 points once again.

And the political and economic malaise in the coming weeks and months threatens to keep investors on their toes for some time yet.

Having said that, we at The Motley Fool believe that stock markets are still the best destination for good returns, given the pitifully low interest rates offered by cash ISAs, for example.  In this article I lay out some of the key points investors must consider in order to keep making splendid returns.

Go for brand power

In times of significant economic hardship — and consequent pressure on consumers’ wallets — the importance of brand power cannot be overstated.

Conventional thinking would suggest that shoppers pick the cheapest option available during such periods. But this is not always the case. Indeed, a combination of shrewd marketing and product innovation has proven to keep sales of popular labels of many FTSE companies — from ice cream and headache pills through to cigarettes —  ticking higher.

Consequently, I reckon the fortunes of  PZ Cussons (LSE: PZC) — manufacturer of brands like Imperial Leather, Original Source and Five:am organic yoghurts — will keep on rising.

New markets

On top of this, PZ Cussons also offers terrific emerging market exposure, thanks to its wide presence across Africa and Asia, a quality that significantly reduces its direct exposure to the impact of Brexit. And although these markets are cooling down, the growth rates here are still a lot stronger than those of the West. And I believe rising wealth levels here should blast consumer spending levels higher in the years ahead.

Indeed, I have previously tipped healthcare play Hutchison China MediTech (LSE: HCM) on the basis of its determination to become the largest pharmaceuticals developer in the Asian powerhouse.

But this is not the only hot developing market play out there — telecoms giant Vodafone and beverages play Diageo  also offer considerable exposure to emerging regions.

Pounding higher?

And some British-based exporters may actually gain from the pound’s fall following the UK’s vote to leave the European Union.

Just today sterling sank to fresh lows below $1.32, not seen since 1985. And HSBC expects the pound to slip as low as $1.20 by the end of the year.

This should benefit many British companies that export their goods abroad. Indeed, UBS estimates that profits over at defence giant Meggitt (LSE: MGGT) and diversified engineer GKN (LSE: GKN) benefit by 5% for every 10% fall in the value of sterling against the US dollar.

The post What are the safest places to store your money post-Brexit? appeared first on The Twelfth Magpie.

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Royston Wild has no position in any shares mentioned. The Motley Fool UK owns shares of GKN and PZ Cussons. The Motley Fool UK has recommended Diageo, HSBC Holdings, and Meggitt. We Fools don't all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors.

In recovery

GlaxoSmithKline has been a serious casualty of the ‘generics’ wars that has bashed Big Pharma during the past few years.

The medicines giant saw sales of key labels Avodart and Seretide/Advair slump 15% and 13%, respectively, in 2015 against a backcloth of crumbling patent protection encouraging a swathe of new competitors to enter the marketplace.

However, GlaxoSmithKline has thrown the kitchen sink at replacing these blockbuster brands to drive group sales higher again. Indeed, the Brentford firm received marketing approval for its Nucala respiratory treatment in Japan, and Strimvelis rare disease drug in Europe, just in the past few weeks.

The drugs leviathan aims to secure 10 regulatory approvals in key growth areas like COPD in the next two years alone. And GlaxoSmithKline plans to start Phase II and III testing for another 30 potential sales drivers through to the end of 2017.

China star

As the name suggests, Hutchison China MediTech (or ‘Chi-Med’ as it’s popularly known) is aiming to deliver stunning earnings growth by taking Asian marketplaces by storm.

Emerging markets of course represent a key growth segment for the pharmaceuticals sector, where surging GDP expansion is underpinning massive increases in healthcare investment. Indeed, China’s Ministry of Finance plans to hike spending on “healthcare and family planning” by 47.2% in 2016 alone, to CNY12.4bn, Reuters reported in March.

And like GlaxoSmithKline, Chi-Med is embarking on exciting testing programmes to develop its own range of market-leading drugs. Just this month the company commenced ‘first-in-human’ clinical trials of its HMPL-689 small molecule inhibitor for the treatment of hematological cancers, for example.

Joints giant

At the other end of the spectrum, Smith & Nephew is steadily building its position as the world’s leading provider of artificial joints and limbs.

The company saw sales in established markets rise 6% during October-December, the biggest quarterly rise for more than three years. As well as solid organic growth, Smith & Nephew has shrewd purchases like that of ArthroCare in the Sports Medicine segment to thank for this improved performance.

And like GlaxoSmithKline and Chi-Med, Smith & Nephew views developing regions as a critical revenue driver in the years ahead. The joints play saw sales in these territories surge 11% in 2015 despite cyclical weakness in China. And purchases like that of its distributor EuroCiencia Colombia last year underline its faith in the potential of these marketplaces.

So what’s the verdict?

Well, on a pure value basis GlaxoSmithKline nudges ahead of its rivals at the current time. The company deals on a P/E rating of 17.5 times for 2016, and a proposed 80p-per-share dividend yields a smashing 5.3%.

By comparison, Smith & Nephew trades on an earnings multiple of 19.8 times and carries a payout yield of 1.9% (a 22.4p dividend is currently predicted). Meanwhile, Chi-Med is expected to keep racking up losses until 2017 at the earliest, and isn’t anticipated to furnish investors with a dividend any time soon, either.

That said, I believe each of the healthcare stocks here provide terrific long-term potential. Not only should a backcloth of population increases and rising affluence levels power healthcare investment across the globe, but all three operators are doubling-down on product development and acquisition activity to latch onto these positive trends.

The post Pharma fight! Should you buy GlaxoSmithKline plc, Smith & Nephew plc or Hutchison China MediTech Limited? appeared first on The Twelfth Magpie.

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Royston Wild has no position in any shares mentioned. The Motley Fool UK has recommended GlaxoSmithKline. We Fools don't all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors.

Standard Chartered

At one time the highly-rated darling of the FTSE 100 banks, Asia-focused Standard Chartered has suffered a spectacular fall from grace. The shares, which were pushing close to £20 in 2010, were trading at just a tad over £4.40 when chief financial officer Andy Halford waded into the market last Thursday.

Mr Halford splashed out £616,644 on 140,000 shares, buying at a discount of more or less 50% to the bank’s tangible net asset value, and 10.6 times forecast 2017 earnings.

Of course, Standard Chartered is in the midst of a restructuring as it seeks to tighten risk controls and improve cost efficiency, so asset values and earnings forecasts may be vulnerable to downward revision. Judging the right time to buy into a recovery story is always difficult — and managing to buy at the very bottom is a matter of pure luck — but Mr Halford evidently sees good value at £4.40.

The shares are up to £4.66, as I’m writing, but that needn’t put you off: chief executive Bill Winters and a number of other execs saw value at around £6 when buying heavily four months ago.

Hutchison China MediTech

Hutchison China MediTech (Chi-Med) holds the distinction of being a rare London-listed Chinese company that hasn’t destroyed investors’ wealth and disappeared into oblivion.

The AIM-listed healthcare group had already grown to be valued at over £1bn before recently also listing $101m of American depositary shares (ADSs) on the Nasdaq stock exchange.

At the end of last week, Chi-Med’s chief executive, Christian Hogg, bought 36,600 ADSs at $13.50 a pop. An ADS represents one half of one ordinary share, so Mr Hogg’s purchase was the equivalent of 18,300 shares at a bit over £19, for a total outlay of around £350,000.

Chi-Med’s revenues are growing fast — up 104% last year — but the company continues to plough profits from its commercial arm (prescription and over-the-counter business) into advancing its exciting drugs pipeline. The company is difficult to value, but you can buy the shares today at the same level at which the chief executive was happy to buy.

Britvic

Soft drinks group Britvic has made a strong recovery since the 2008/9 financial crisis, including fighting off a takeover bid by fellow FTSE 250 firm AG Barr in 2013. However, Britvic’s shares have been moving sideways in a £6.50 to £7.50 trading range for a couple of years. There’s been no significant director buying during the period … until this month.

New non-executive director Sue Clark (also currently managing director of SABMiller Europe) made a maiden purchase of 15,000 Britvic shares at just above £7 a share, for a total investment of £105,235 — or, about twice her basic fee as a non-exec.

The purchase came after Chancellor George Osborne’s budget announcement of a sugar levy on soft drinks. The shares are only marginally higher today, and a rating of around 15 times forecast earnings for the company’s financial year ending 30 September, with a dividend yield above 3%, looks decent value.

The post Should You Follow Directors Buying Shares At Standard Chartered PLC, Hutchison China MediTech Limited And Britvic Plc? appeared first on The Twelfth Magpie.

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G A Chester has no position in any shares mentioned. The Motley Fool UK has recommended Britvic. We Fools don't all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors.

In fashion

ASOS has certainly been one of the most famous AIM shares of recent years and with good reason. The online-only fast fashion retailer has carved a significant niche for itself with young shoppers. The company has taken advantage of its strong social media presence to grow revenue by leaps and bounds, with sales up a whopping 23% in the past quarter alone.

This revenue growth hasn’t turned into bumper profits because of its meagre operating margins of 4.1%. Management’s answer to this has been to bring other brands on board to the website and social media accounts, a smart move to diversify revenue.

However, I remain doubtful the company can continue living up to the high expectations it has set itself. Shares may have halved from their 2014 peak but they still trade at an astronomical 58 times forward earnings. I don’t believe its core business of low-end fast fashion will ever offer sufficient pricing power to increase profits enough to meet this sky-high valuation.

Risks and rewards

Internet of Things (IoT) device maker Telit Communications is another former high flyer whose shares have come back down to earth recently. The IoT market, which connects devices as varied as refrigerators and cars to the internet, is expected to continue growing nearly exponentially. But investors are increasingly worried that relative minnow Telit will be squeezed out by larger competitors.

This is a very valid concern, and I believe the future for Telit will hinge on its services division. The support services it offers to small companies allows them to embed IoT devices in their products, and Telit will work with them to sift through and utilise the massive amounts of data produced. Sales in the services division grew by 30% last year, but still remain a small portion of overall revenues. If the company can continue to capitalise on this success, its shares may be quite cheap at 13 times forward earnings.

Set for the big time?

Hutchison China MediTech is attempting to take advantage of China’s prodigious output of highly-educated scientists to create the country’s own homegrown global pharma giant. The company, which is controlled by Hong Kong conglomerate CK Hutchison, has so far funded high R&D costs by creating a cross-country sales network for outside prescription drugs. This strategy has paid off so far with revenue growing by 104% last year alone as the in-house innovation division begins to add to the bottom line.

The company is aiming for 25 clinical trials by mid 2016 and could send its first drug for US approval as early as later this year. And, its agreements with major global brands such as AstraZeneca and Eli Lilly bring in significant revenue each time a drug makes it to the next stage of development. If any of these myriad drugs pay off big time, shareholders could be in for great returns.

The post Could AIM Stars ASOS Plc, Telit Communications Plc And Hutchison China MediTech Limited Fund Your Retirement? appeared first on The Twelfth Magpie.

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Ian Pierce has no position in any shares mentioned. The Motley Fool UK owns shares of and has recommended ASOS. We Fools don't all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors.

Ring up a fortune

Much has been made of Vodafone’s (LSE: VOD) performance improvement in Europe, and with good reason — the company sources two-thirds of total revenues from this region. But investors should not overlook the increasing contribution the firm’s Africa, Middle East and Asia Pacific (or AMAP) territory is making.

Indeed, Vodafone saw organic service revenues in this marketplace surge 6.4% between April and September, and customer numbers swelled by 8.9 million to more than 330 million. In particular, Vodafone’s Project Spring investment scheme has worked wonders in addressing ‘rapid’ data demand growth in these regions — the number of 3G customers in India surged 75% in the first half, to 23.8 million, and Vodafone plans to roll out 4G in the country in the next few months.

As well as boosting its position in the core telecoms arena, Vodafone is also spreading its wings in the mobile money sector. The company announced today it was expanding its hugely-successful, Africa-focussed M-Pesa service into Ghana. This division saw transactions leap 26% in April-September, to more than 2 billion.

Vodafone clearly sees emerging markets as a key lever for future earnings growth. With the Newbury firm aggressively modernising and expanding its operations, I fully expect sales to head higher along with stampeding consumer spending power in these ‘new’ regions.

Scrubbing up a treat

I believe household goods giant PZ Cussons’ (LSE: PZC) focus on Asia, Africa and Australasia also makes it a terrific long-term stock selection. The problem of adverse exchange rates is likely to remain a problem for some time longer, but the company can rely on its stable of market-leading products — from Imperial Leather soap and shower gels to five:AM organic foods — to keep revenues edging higher.

Indeed, the exceptional pricing power of such labels is allowing the firm to traverse economic cooling in its far-flung territories, and a steady trend of product roll-outs should keep the top-line chugging higher.

Medical marvel

Healthcare play Hutchison China Meditech (LSE: HCM), or ‘Chi-Med’ as it is better known, has grand ambitions to become the largest drugs manufacturer in the white-hot Chinese marketplace, making it worthy of more than a cursory glance from growth hunters in my opinion.

With patent protection having been secured for its sales-driving SXBXP cardiovascular drug up until 2029, Chi-Med is now hunkering down on bringing its bubbly product pipeline to fruition.

The Cayman Islands business announced last month that Phase I testing had commenced on its sulfatinib oncology drug in the US. And this followed news that its HMPL‑523 therapy — used to treat spleen tyrosine kinase — was about to enter Phase II trials.

As healthcare investment ratchets higher across China and South-East Asia, I reckon Chi-Med could be set to enjoy smashing revenues growth in the years ahead.

The post 3 Emerging Market Stars Set To Explode: Vodafone Group plc, PZ Cussons plc & Hutchison China Meditech Limited appeared first on The Twelfth Magpie.

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Royston Wild has no position in any shares mentioned. The Motley Fool UK owns shares of PZ Cussons. We Fools don't all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors.

Unilever

Household goods giant Unilever (LSE: ULVR) is already a big player in developing regions the world over, and the business generates around 58% of total revenues from such territories. The London firm is managing to hurdle the impact of economic cooling on consumer spending, and saw underlying sales growth of 6% in April-June speed up from 5.4% in the prior quarter.

Promisingly Unilever advised that emerging market growth “was driven by both volume and price,” and this comes as little surprise — the diversified manufacturer is chucking vast sums at industry-leading brands, from Cornetto desserts to Dove soap, to enhance marketing activities and product development. The City expects Unilever to record a 5% earnings bounce in 2015, resulting in a P/E of 20.2 times. Given the firm’s compelling growth story I believe this is a snip.

Ted Baker

Fashion brands the world over are aggressively rolling out their wares in new territories, fuelled by the insatiable demand of a rising middle class for the latest ‘luxury’ and ‘hip’ fashion brands. These favourable dynamics have certainly boosted the outlook for London fashion house Ted Baker (LSE: TED), the business having announced last week that group revenues rose 24.5% in the 28 weeks to August 15, to £226.8m.

Asian retail sales leapt 31% in the period, and the business is looking to keep the tills ringing with new store openings — the business opened directly-owned outlets in Hong Kong and South Korea in the period, and several licensee shops in Azerbaijan, Dubai, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan and Thailand. The number crunchers expect Ted Baker to record a 19% earnings rise in the year to January 2016, resulting in a P/E multiple of 33.7 times. But with the bottom line anticipated to advance by double-digits well beyond next year, I believe this premium is fully justified.

SABMiller

It comes as little surprise to me that drinks goliath Anheuser-Busch InBev is making admiring glances at SABMiller (LSE: SAB). The brewer is a huge player in the lucrative African market, and generates around 28% of total sales from this one territory. And the continent promises plenty of upside as income levels rise — as the firm explained in March, “Africans drink nine litres of beer per head per year, compared with a global average of 45.”

In total, SABMiller sources 65% of total net producer revenues from Africa, Asia and Latin America combined, achieved through hundreds of local and multinational brands such as Miller, Castle and Peroni. And the company is also expanding its operations in these regions to cotton onto surging alcohol demand. The City expects SABMiller to endure a 7% earnings dip in 2015 due to adverse currency movements, producing a P/E ratio of 25.3 times. But growth is expected to take off thereafter along with with rising consumer spending clout.

Hutchison China MediTech

I am convinced that Hutchison China MediTech (LSE: HCM) — or ‘Chi-Med’ — should reap the rewards of increased healthcare spend in emerging regions. Critically the business, which is aiming to become China’s biggest pharmaceuticals maker, secured patent protection in July on its SXBXP cardiovascular drug up until 2029. The product is responsible for nine-tenths of total revenues, so the extension allows the business to get its raft of next-gen superstars to market in the coming years.

Chi-Med unveiled Phase II proof-of-concept data for its fruquintinib lung and colorectal cancer treatment at the European Cancer Congress late last month, and is ramping up R&D spend to bring its products online — it now has 17 clinical trials on the go versus 10 at the midpoint of 2014.

Earnings are expected to gallop 174% higher in 2014, creating an eye-watering P/E multiple of 123.1 times. But a sub-1 PEG reading, at 0.7, illustrates Chi-Med cheapness relative to its growth prospects. And I believe the business is a terrific way to gain long-term exposure to surging medicine demand in China.

The post Are Unilever plc, Ted Baker plc, SABMiller PLC And Hutchison China MediTech Limited The Hottest Emerging Market Stocks Out There? appeared first on The Twelfth Magpie.

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Royston Wild owns shares of Unilever. The Motley Fool UK owns shares of and has recommended Unilever. We Fools don't all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors.