The Contrarian Investor: We need to talk about Russia

We need to talk about Russia

Forget about Kevin - what are we going to do about Russia? I ask this question - again - because our Slavic friends to the East have presented us with another investing dilemma.

Russia represents the front line of an increasingly difficult intellectual challenge for investors – how far should we let ‘moral’ queasiness intrude into the world of investing pragmatism? If we are willing to simply ignore any moral dimension to investing – a utilitarian view for which I have some sympathy – then Russian equities currently represent absolutely compelling values. By whatever fundamental measure one chooses to deploy (except perhaps those based around earnings growth in an economy dependent on falling oil prices) most local large-cap equities are cheap, although it is...