
Venezuelan stocks, according to Financial Times (Ratios*) have an average dividend yield of 20.2% and an average P/E of 2x. By contrast, the stocks in neighboring Colombia average 1% yields and P/E ratios of 19.9x. Much of the Venezuelan discount, of course, is due to the threat of expropriation from the Chavez government. Might some ambitious hedge fund decide to buy up Venezuelan stocks and then try to finance the replacement of Chavez with a capitalist?
The photo above, from Flickr, is of Dayana Mendoza, Miss Venezuela 2008, posing on a boat in Vietnam, where she competed in (and won) the 2008 Miss Universe competition last summer.
*Warning: PDF.