SURVEYING THE GLOBAL OPPORTUNITIES

TATNEFT (TNT)– DEEP VALUE PLAY IN RUSSIA

The fundamental story for this Russian oil play remains as strong as ever. No matter how you slice and dice it, based on what you are paying for the oil it has in the ground, Tatneft is just plain cheap. As the rise of Russian oil giant Gazprom into the ranks of the Top Ten of the FT Global 500 shows, Russian energy companies, global financial crises notwithstanding, have been the best bet of the past decade. And while the London Stock Exchange and AIM lists 25 Russian companies, this is the only Russian oil play on the NYSE. Just strap yourself in for the volatility.

NOKIA (NOK) — BEST OF BREED FOR FAST-GROWTH ECONOMIES

Nokia continues to fire on all cylinders and is adding some new ones. With its new high-end products, you’ve got the makings of a big winner. It’s also a terrific play on the fast growth BRIC economies with the relative safety of an EU (Finnish) company. With a 75% market share of cell phones sold in India, it’s the best indirect play on a market that is growing by 5 million subscribers a month. Business Week also just named Nokia the 8th most innovative company in the world.

COGNIZANT TECHNOLOGIES (CTSH)– #1 PLAY ON THE OUTSOURCING MEGATREND

Cognizant Technologies, our Indian outsourcing play, just keeps collecting award after award for its performance. Business 2.0 has named Cognizant #28 on its list of the 100 Fastest-Growing Tech Companies. Cognizant was the only IT outsourcing services company to be represented on the list and was chosen from more than 2,000 U.S. publicly traded technology companies. This is the third consecutive year in which Cognizant was named to the list.

Bank of America raised its price target to $79 on Cognizant saying it is trading at a 31% discount to its three-year growth rate. Technically, the stock has performed better than its India-listed counterparts.

BHP BILLITON (BHP) — PLAY THE COMMODITIES BOOM

This diversified commodity play rose from #41 to #32 in this year’s FT Global 500. The current hiccup notwithstanding, the commodity boom still has a decade to go, and BHP is one of the best ways to play it. BHP Billiton announced just today that it has signed an agreement with Russian resource giant Norilsk Nickel to explore and develop mineral resources in Russia, initially concentrating on exploration in northwest Russia and Western Siberia. That means further growth — and upside — for this Australian giant.