8 Best Middle East and Africa Stocks to Buy According to Hedge Funds

In this article, we will discuss the 8 Best Middle East and Africa Stocks to Buy According to Hedge Funds.

The United States and Israel’s strikes on Iran have roiled global oil prices and reignited volatility across global financial markets. As a result, economies around the world, including those in regions like Africa and the Middle East, are under fresh pressure. That turbulence arrived just as the emerging markets asset class was staging its strongest run in years.

Last year, emerging markets trounced the developed markets, and the trend was still going strong in the early days of this year, Tanzeel Akhtar’s analysis in the Wall Street Journal shows. Akhtar noted that the MSCI Emerging Markets Index gained 34% against the MSCI World Index’s 21.6%. Such a variance was last seen in 2017, noted Akhtar. She, however, stated that the conflict in the Middle East has since weighed on that momentum, as investors rotate back toward the relative safety of developed markets.

Even so, the valuation argument for emerging markets is intact, as per Akhtar’s analysis. The analysis noted that emerging markets still trade at roughly a 40% discount to developed markets on a forward price-to-earnings basis, and that this gap reflects years of investor preference for US assets during the dollar’s rise. While the US/Israel-Iran conflict has scrambled the investing outlook, portfolio managers at major funds, such as BlackRock and Vanguard, say that higher crude oil and commodity prices only reinforce the case for certain emerging markets they were already bullish on before the outbreak of hostilities.

In fact, a Reuters analysis by columnist Jamie McGeever shows that emerging markets have defied the energy shock. The analysis points to the MSCI global emerging markets index and the MSCI Asia ex-Japan index, both of which have climbed more than 20% above their March 31 lows. Thea Jamison, manager at Change Global Investment, told Reshma Kapadia of Barron’s that she believes emerging markets are in “complete breakout territory” from a technical standpoint. This development, Jamison argues, will attract further inflows, which will then create their own momentum.

With that backdrop in mind, this article identifies the 8 best Middle East and Africa stocks to buy, based on hedge fund sentiment.

8 Best Middle East and Africa Stocks to Buy According to Hedge Funds

Our Methodology

To compile our list of the 8 best Middle East and Africa stocks to buy according to hedge funds, we used Finviz and Yahoo stock screeners to identify the 30 largest companies in these regions, and ensured that the selected names had positive upside potential as of May 13, 2026. We then used the Q4 2025 13F filings available in Insider Monkey’s hedge fund database to select the stocks with the largest number of hedge fund holders, and then picked the top eight. This list is presented in ascending order of hedge funds with a stake in the stock.

Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 498.7% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 303 percentage points (see more details here).

Best Middle East and Africa Stocks to Buy According to Hedge Funds

8. AngloGold Ashanti PLC (NYSE:AU)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 31

Stock Upside: 23.66%

AngloGold Ashanti PLC (NYSE:AU) is one of the best Middle East and Africa stocks to buy according to hedge funds. On May 8, AngloGold Ashanti PLC released its Q1 FY2026 earnings, in which it reported $2.52 in quarterly earnings per share, a figure that exceeded the $2.32 consensus estimate. Revenue for the quarter came in at $3.15 billion, which was just short of the $3.25 billion analysts had expected.

According to AngloGold’s management, surging gold prices are the primary reason the company’s earnings were able to exceed Wall Street expectations. The company detailed in the earnings report that the average gold price per ounce it received during the quarter was $4,863, a 69% year over year jump.

For that same reason, EBITDA grew 130% year on year to $2.29 billion and headline earnings also jumped 187% year over year to $1.3 billion, or 252 cents per share. Free cash flow also hit a record $1.2 billion for the quarter, which was nearly triple the $403 million generated in Q1 2025. Beside the higher gold prices, CEO Alberto Calderon also attributed the performance to disciplined cost management and predictable mine-level performance rather than any dramatic volume increase.

Riding the record cash generation, the company declared a record interim dividend of $585 million, or 116 US cents per share. Management said this call was in line with its policy of paying out 50% of free cash flow. The dividend is payable June 12, 2026, to shareholders on record as of May 29.

AngloGold Ashanti PLC is a gold mining company founded in South Africa. The company operates a portfolio of underground and open-pit gold mines and also conducts exploration activities in various locations across Africa, including Ghana, Tanzania, Guinea, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

7. Sibanye-Stillwater Limited (NYSE:SBSW)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 33

Stock Upside: 25.56%

Sibanye-Stillwater Limited (NYSE:SBSW) is one of the best Middle East and Africa stocks to buy according to hedge funds. On May 13, Sibanye-Stillwater Limited announced the results of its cash tender offer to retire all outstanding 4.000% senior notes due November 2026, in which it revealed that holders tendered a total of $613.875 million of the $675 million in notes outstanding. This means about $61 million was not tendered and will be repaid by the company using its cash reserves when the notes mature.

The company launched the tender offer on May 6, through its wholly owned US subsidiary, Stillwater Mining Company. This offer was structured as an “any and all” offer, which means the company committed to buying back every single note submitted, at full face value of $1,000 for every $1,000 of principal, and with no discount applied. Sibanye issued new debt to fund these buybacks, including a $500 million senior notes offering due 2031, carrying a 6.25% annual coupon, through its UK financing arm.

Separately, Sibanye-Stillwater said on April 17 that it is working on a project to advance nuclear medicine for cancer treatment. The research project is a joint venture with the South African Nuclear Energy Corporation (Necsa). According to Sibanye-Stillwater, the project intends to develop a radioactive palladium isotope known as Palladium-103, or Pd-103, which is used in a cancer treatment process called Brachytherapy.

Sibanye-Stillwater Limited is a mining company headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa. The company operates precious metals mining and processing facilities across South Africa and also owns mining assets in the United States and Europe.

6. Elbit Systems Ltd. (NASDAQ:ESLT)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 25

Stock Upside: 32.51%

Elbit Systems Ltd. (NASDAQ:ESLT) is one of the best Middle East and Africa stocks to buy according to hedge funds. On May 12, Elbit Systems Ltd. announced that its US subsidiary, Elbit Systems of America – Night Vision LLC, had been awarded a $212 million delivery order by the US Army for continued production of the Enhanced Night Vision Goggle – Binocular (ENVG-B) system. The company said deliveries are scheduled to run through 2028.

Elbit Systems noted that this award is particularly notable because the US Army has historically split ENVG-B production contracts among multiple vendors. This time round, however, Elbit Systems of America was the sole prime supplier selected. As such, management believes that this is the strongest signal of the US Army’s confidence in their technology.

According to Elbit, the ENVG-B system brings together high-resolution image intensification and thermal imaging, and the combined product allows soldiers to detect, identify, and engage targets in complete darkness or adverse weather. The company has also enhanced the technology with augmented reality. The AR overlays enable passive targeting and improves the survivability of users as well as the effectiveness of missions on the battlefield.

The company said that this new delivery order continues a program that was originally awarded to Elbit Systems of America in 2023. It noted that this new order is a chance to deepen this multiyear relationship, and that this award reinforces its position as the Army’s primary partner in that technology area.

Elbit Systems Ltd. is a defense electronics company headquartered in Haifa, Israel. The company develops and manufactures defense, homeland security, and commercial aerospace systems for customers in the Middle East, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and the Americas.

5. Mobileye Global Inc. (NASDAQ:MBLY)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 41

Stock Upside: 10.72%

Mobileye Global Inc. (NASDAQ:MBLY) is one of the best Middle East and Africa stocks to buy according to hedge funds. On April 23, Mobileye Global Inc. released its Q1 FY2026 financial results and reported revenue of $558 million, a 27% increase year over year, and well ahead of the $519.5 million analysts expected. Adjusted EPS came in at $0.12, which also beat the consensus estimate by 33%.

5 Best Middle East and Africa Stocks to Buy According to Hedge Funds

Photo by George Morina on Pexels

Mobileye’s top leadership, led by Professor Amnon Shashua, CEO and President, explained in an earnings call on the same day that the revenue beat was due to Chinese OEMs exporting vehicles to emerging markets like Asia and South America, where Mobileye holds a higher market share than it does in China’s domestic market. This shift powered nearly half of the upside, the executives said. Another driver the executives pointed to was that advanced driver-assistance systems, or ADAS, fitment rates at the company’s top Western OEM customers continued trending higher.

The company added that operating income for the quarter climbed 61% year on year to $95 million. Adjusted operating margin also grew to 17% compared to 13% in the same quarter last year. The executives stated in the earnings call that this improvement was supported by higher volumes flowing through a largely fixed cost base.

Management revised its full-year 2026 revenue midpoint guidance by 2%. They also revised upwards the anticipated adjusted operating income by 8% at the midpoint.

Mobileye Global Inc. is an autonomous driving technology company headquartered in Jerusalem, Israel. The company develops ADAS, autonomous driving technologies, and semiconductor solutions used by automotive manufacturers worldwide.

4. JFrog Ltd. (NASDAQ:FROG)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 50

Stock Upside: 23.88%

JFrog Ltd. (NASDAQ:FROG) is one of the best Middle East and Africa stocks to buy according to hedge funds. On May 8, Stifel analyst Brad Reback raised his price target on JFrog Ltd. from $52 to $75, and maintained his Buy rating on the stock.

The upgrade reverses a cautious stance the analyst had taken on February 22 when he cut his target from $64 to $52. At the time, Reback argued that Claude Code Security, which Anthropic had just introduced, would weigh on JFrog’s growth prospects. Fast forward, the analyst now believes that JFrog’s place in the market is unassailable, an argument that Reback said is supported by the company’s blowout earnings in Q1 FY2026. He noted that, for the first time, JFrog’s cloud revenue exceeded half of total revenue during the first quarter. The revenue came in at $78.9 million, up 50% year over year, and represented 51% of total revenue, up from 43% the year before.

Total revenue for the quarter reached $154 million, a 26% year over year increase. This growth came on the back of growing enterprise demand for a platform that can manage not just software code but also artificial intelligence models and related components as companies push to deploy AI in real-world settings, noted management.

Given the performance, Reback expects JFrog’s stock to stabilize at the current levels. He pointed out that the nature of growth in JFrog’s core business continues to benefit from increased code generation powered by AI.

JFrog Ltd. is a software company with major operations and development activities in Israel. The company provides software supply chain platforms that help organizations manage, secure, distribute, and update software applications across cloud, hybrid, and on-premises environments.

3. monday.com Ltd. (NASDAQ:MNDY)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 51

Stock Upside: 44.59%

monday.com Ltd. (NASDAQ:MNDY) is one of the best Middle East and Africa stocks to buy according to hedge funds. On May 12, UBS analyst Taylor McGinnis lowered his price target on monday.com Ltd. from $93 to $85, while keeping a Neutral rating on the stock. The analyst cited uncertainty over the company’s outlook for the rest of fiscal year 2026.

McGinnis made the call soon after monday.com reported its Q1 2026 earnings on May 11. In the earnings report, monday.com said quarterly revenue reached $351.3 million, up 24% year over year and exceeding the consensus estimate of $346 million. McGinnis acknowledged that the Q1 performance was healthy, but argued that too much uncertainty surrounds the company’s near-term trajectory to justify a more optimistic stance on the stock.

Part of that uncertainty stems from monday.com’s own forward guidance, which anticipates Q2 FY2026 revenue to range from $354 million to $356 million. This guidance implies a year over year growth range of 18%-19%, which, to McGinnis, is a notable slowdown from Q1’s 24% pace.

In the earnings report, Monday.com flagged foreign exchange headwinds that could shave 100-200 basis points off growth for the remainder of the year. Management also noted that planned investments in artificial intelligence, along with potential cost increases, could moderate performance in the second half of 2026.

monday.com Ltd. is a software company headquartered in Tel Aviv, Israel. The company develops cloud-based work management platforms that help businesses manage projects, workflows, customer relationships, and software development processes.

2. Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Limited (NYSE:TEVA)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 60

Stock Upside: 10.04%

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Limited (NYSE:TEVA) is one of the best Middle East and Africa stocks to buy according to hedge funds. On April 29, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Limited reported its Q1 FY2026 earnings, where it revealed that revenue was $4.0 billion for the quarter. This is a 2% year over year increase and a beat against analyst estimates of about $3.79 billion. Non-GAAP diluted EPS was $0.53, a 10% beat against the consensus estimate.

Management hosted an earnings call on the same day and took the time to explain that the revenue beat was powered by the company’s innovative portfolio growing 41% collectively. They added that the EPS beat was tied directly to a better-than-expected gross margin of 52.9%, and that this reflects the growing mix of high-margin innovative products within overall revenue.

CFO Eli Kalif noted during the earnings call that the gross margin outperformed internal expectations due to a favorable product mix within generics as well. The flip side was that non-GAAP operating margin dipped about 50 basis points year on year to 24%, Kalif noted. He explained that this dip was because the company intentionally increased sales and marketing spending to sustain the growth of its innovative portfolio.

Management said in the earnings call that the company had agreed to acquire Amylyx Pharmaceuticals for $700 million upfront plus up to $200 million in commercial milestones. They said that the key asset they want from this transaction is ecopipam, a first-in-class drug candidate for Tourette syndrome in children. Teva plans an FDA NDA submission for this drug candidate in the second half of this year. Management positioned ecopipam as a natural extension of their company’s CNS commercial infrastructure built around AUSTEDO and UZEDY, and noted the product carries an expected gross margin of approximately 80%.

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Limited is an Israeli pharmaceutical company that develops, manufactures, and markets generic medicines, specialty pharmaceuticals, and active pharmaceutical ingredients for patients worldwide. Teva’s portfolio includes treatments for neurological disorders, respiratory diseases, and migraine prevention.

1. Wix.com Ltd. (NASDAQ:WIX)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 45

Stock Upside: 104.96%

Wix.com Ltd. (NASDAQ:WIX) is one of the best Middle East and Africa stocks to buy according to hedge funds. On May 13, BofA Securities lowered its price target on Wix.com Ltd. to $95 from $109, while keeping its Buy rating. The firm made the call following Wix.com’s Q1 FY2026 earnings release the same day. BofA described the results as mixed.

According to Wix.com, quarterly revenue reached $541 million, up 14% year over year; however, this fell short of the analyst consensus of around $544 million. The company added that non-GAAP EPS came in at $0.68, which badly missed the $1.22 consensus. Management explained that revenue growth came from a 46% year over year surge in new user cohort bookings, to $52 million. The cohort bookings were largely boosted by Base44, the AI-powered app-building platform Wix acquired in 2025. There was also a noticeably higher conversion of new users into paid subscriptions, driven by the January 2026 rollout of Wix Harmony, the company’s AI website creation platform, noted management. Nonetheless, Base44 ultimately contributed to the earnings miss immensely because, as per management, it has not yet fully ramped to the scale the market had priced in.

The company explained that the EPS miss was due to elevated AI compute costs to run and scale Base44. Management noted that new users consume disproportionately more AI inference bandwidth during their initial build phase. As a result, Base44 costs are front-loaded by design.

Wix.com Ltd. is an Israeli web development platform company. It provides cloud-based tools that allow individuals and businesses to create, manage, and operate websites, online stores, and digital applications without advanced coding expertise.

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