Which overseas market is a good hunting ground for value stocks?

[d.o.g.]

hi d.o.g., thank you for your informative and insightful sharing. will you say taiwan is a good learning ground for SG investors interested in overseas markets?

My personal view is that Taiwan may not be the most suitable training ground as an introduction to foreign markets, due to results being published only in traditional Chinese, with limited management discussion. For someone fluent in traditional Chinese and who is willing and able to spend the time to speak with company management in Mandarin, it can be an interesting market.

Hong Kong is better as a first foreign market for Singapore investors because reports are published in both English and traditional Chinese. Usually there is a decent amount of management discussion. And the investor relations person often speaks English, Cantonese and Mandarin.

At present, based on the number of privatizations occurring, I believe valuations are also more attractive in Singapore and Hong Kong, compared to Taiwan.

The US market is also a good first overseas market because of the extensive discussions in the 10-K documents. However, the near-impossibility of doing proper due diligence generally limits the Singapore investor to just the usual blue chips, which are by most measures currently trading at historically high valuations. When the next crisis or war hits, by all means buy Johnson & Johnson, Procter & Gamble, Kimberly Clarke etc. Until then, it might be better to just read the 10-Ks and watch from afar.

As usual, YMMV.