Five Mexican Stocks Hedge Funds Are Bullish On

#3. Fomento Economico Mexicano SAB (ADR) (NYSE:FMX)

– Investors with long positions as of March 31: 17

– Aggregate value of investors’ holdings as of March 31: $331.96 Million

Fomento Economico Mexicano SAB (ADR) (NYSE:FMX) gained some popularity among the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey during the January-to-March period, when the number of funds invested in the company increased to 17 from 15 quarter-on-quarter. Similarly, the dollar value of those funds’ equity investments in the company jumped by 47% quarter-over-quarter to $331.96 million, partially due to a 4% gain in the value of Fomento Economico Mexicano ADSs. FEMSA, which owns the largest convenience-store chain in Latin American and the second-largest equity stake in brewer Heineken NV, has seen its ADSs gain 2% since the start of the year. Earlier this month, the company revealed it had successfully acquired Big John, a convenience store operator based in Santiago, Chile. The freshly-acquired company operates 49 stores primarily in the Santiago metropolitan area. The purchase follows the acquisition of a majority stake in Chilean drugstore operator called Socofar, completed in the second half of last year. Cliff Asness’ AQR Capital Management reported owning nearly 498,000 ADSs of Fomento Economico Mexicano SAB (ADR) (NYSE:FMX) through the latest round of 13Fs.

#2. Cemex SAB de CV (ADR) (NYSE:CX)

– Investors with long positions as of March 31: 18

– Aggregate value of investors’ holdings as of March 31: $152.40 Million

Cemex SAB de CV (ADR) (NYSE:CX) was a hedge fund darling in the first quarter of 2016, as the number of money managers from our database with equity investments in the company doubled to 18 quarter-over-quarter. Correspondingly, the overall value of those investments grew by 60% quarter-on-quarter to $152.40, partly due to a 31% price appreciation of the company’s ADSs. The world’s second-largest cement company has seen its market capitalization increase by 22% since the start of 2016. Earlier this year, Cemex SAB amortized $397.4 million worth of debt that was due to expire in 2018 and 2019, as part of its refinancing strategy to lower costs. The company also recently announced plans to sell U.S. assets valued at roughly $400 million to Mexico’s Grupo Cementos de Chihuahua, as part of its plan to raise up to $1.5 billion in asset sales in 2016. Howard Marks’ Oaktree Capital Management was the owner of 6.57 million ADSs of Cemex SAB de CV (ADR) (NYSE:CX) on March 31.

#1. Grupo Televisa SAB (ADR) (NYSE:TV)

– Investors with long positions as of March 31: 29

– Aggregate value of investors’ holdings as of March 31: $1.98 Billion

Grupo Televisa SAB (ADR) (NYSE:TV) also received some love from the hedge funds followed by our team during the January-to-March period, with the number of funds invested in the company increasing to 29 from 22 during the three-month period. Even so, the aggregate value of those funds’ equity investments in Grupo Televisa shrunk 2% quarter-over-quarter to $1.98 billion, so some funds trimmed their exposure to the company quite significantly during the quarter. The 29 asset managers invested in Grupo Televisa amassed 12% of the company’s total number of outstanding shares. Televisa, a leading media company in the Spanish-speaking world, a cable operator and an operator of direct-to-home satellite pay television system in Mexico, has seen the value of its ADSs decline by 4% since the start of 2016. The Mexican television broadcaster will not be able to air the upcoming Olympic Games in Brazil after the company failed to reach an agreement to purchase broadcasting rights from America Movil SAB. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust, overseen by Michael Larson, owns 16.88 million ADSs of Grupo Televisa SAB (ADR) (NYSE:TV) as of the end of the first quarter.

Disclosure: None