Emerging Markets Set to Excel: Three Stocks for Growth and Value in 2026
Emerging Market Growth: Emerging and developing economies are projected to grow by 4.2% in 2025, significantly outpacing the 1.6% growth expected for advanced economies, with EMs now accounting for over 50% of global GDP.
Equity Market Performance: Emerging-market equities are expected to outperform developed-market equities for the first time since 2020, aided by favorable economic conditions and a significant valuation discount of approximately 35% compared to developed markets.
Key Emerging Market Stocks: Notable stocks such as ICICI Bank, Taiwan Semiconductor, and MercadoLibre are highlighted as strong performers, benefiting from structural tailwinds and expected to show robust growth into 2026.
Monetary Policy and Manufacturing Growth: Easing monetary policies in emerging markets are fostering credit growth and supporting manufacturing activity, with countries like India attracting significant foreign investment and experiencing a surge in mobile phone exports.
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- AI Chip Market Growth: Taiwan Semiconductor expects the AI chip market to grow at a mid- to high-50% CAGR from 2024 to 2029, representing a massive growth opportunity that will drive significant capital expenditures to increase chip production capacity, thereby solidifying its market leadership.
- Diverse Demand Support: As technologies like humanoid robots, autonomous driving, and drone delivery become more prevalent, chip demand will continue to rise, placing Taiwan Semiconductor at the heart of this growth trend as the world's largest chip foundry, ensuring future revenue growth.
- Sustained Innovation Advantage: Taiwan Semiconductor's ongoing innovation in AI computing hardware will drive demand for more efficient and advanced hardware; although AI hardware has a relatively short lifespan, the need for replacements will always exist, providing a stable market foundation for the company.
- Attractive Valuation for Investment: With a PE ratio of 23.6, slightly above the market average, Taiwan Semiconductor remains a compelling investment option given its strong long-term AI growth potential, and is expected to outperform the market over the next decade.
- Market Share Dominance: TSMC currently holds a 71% share of the global chip market and produces over 90% of advanced semiconductors, positioning itself to benefit significantly from the surging demand for AI chips, thereby reinforcing its market leadership.
- Strong Financial Performance: In Q4, TSMC reported revenue of $33.7 billion, a 26% year-over-year increase, with earnings per share rising 35% to $3.14, and gross margin improving to 62.3%, showcasing the company's exceptional ability to scale production and leverage its assets effectively.
- Future Growth Outlook: Management anticipates Q1 revenue of $35.2 billion, up 38%, and operating income of $19.36 billion, up 56%, indicating that the company is set to maintain robust growth momentum in the coming quarters.
- Expansive Market Potential: The semiconductor market is projected to reach nearly $1.6 trillion by 2030, and as an industry leader, TSMC is expected to continue benefiting from this long-term growth trend due to its cutting-edge process technology and strong customer base.
- Market Leadership: TSMC currently has a market capitalization of $1.6 trillion and commands a 71% share of the global chip market, positioning itself to benefit significantly from the rapid growth in artificial intelligence and data centers, thereby solidifying its leadership in the semiconductor industry.
- Strong Financial Performance: In the fourth quarter, TSMC reported revenue of $33.7 billion, a 26% year-over-year increase, with earnings per American Depository share rising 35% to $3.14, and gross margin improving to 62.3%, indicating sustained profitability as the company scales its production.
- Optimistic Future Outlook: Management forecasts first-quarter revenue of $35.2 billion, up 38%, and operating income of $19.36 billion, up 56%, suggesting that the company will continue to maintain robust growth momentum in the coming quarters.
- Broad Industry Prospects: The semiconductor market is projected to reach nearly $1.6 trillion by 2030, and with TSMC's advanced process technology and strong customer base, it is expected to capture a significant share of this growth, further driving its market capitalization towards the $3 trillion target.
- New Additions: In Q1 2026, Invesco EQV European Equity Fund added 11 stocks, with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd (TPE:2330) being the largest at 469,000 shares, representing 2.68% of the portfolio and valued at NT$25.93 billion, indicating strong confidence in the semiconductor sector.
- Key Position Increases: The fund increased stakes in 9 stocks, notably in Contemporary Amperex Technology Co Ltd (HKSE:03750) by 89,000 shares, a 45.66% increase impacting the portfolio by 0.57%, valued at HK$17.71 million, reflecting a focus on battery technology.
- Complete Exits: In Q1 2026, the fund completely exited 9 holdings, including Prosus NV (XAMS:PRX) and Sumitomo Forestry Co Ltd (TSE:1911), resulting in -2.26% and -1.66% impacts on the portfolio respectively, showcasing a cautious stance on these investments.
- Position Reductions: The fund reduced positions in 35 stocks, with Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (HKSE:09988) seeing a reduction of 386,600 shares, a 21.64% decrease impacting the portfolio by -0.9%, reflecting a strategic response to market volatility.
- Market Performance Analysis: In Q1 2023, the VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) showed strong performance, outperforming the S&P 500 by approximately 7 percentage points year-to-date; however, it faces short-term downside leadership risks that could impact overall market sentiment.
- Technical Indicator Warning: According to Tom DeMark's TD Combo model, SMH's long-term uptrend shows signs of exhaustion, with the last two 'sell' signals accurately predicting cyclical corrections in late 2021 and mid-2024, indicating a potential nine-month corrective phase ahead.
- Taiwan Semiconductor's Market Position: As the second-largest holding in SMH, TSMC's stock has recently broken down below the daily cloud model, facing short-term support at $293 from a 38.2% Fibonacci retracement, with a further drop below $232 potentially exacerbating market downside pressure.
- Industry Outlook: Semiconductor stocks typically lead both uptrends and downtrends, thus the loss of relative strength for SMH and its constituents is viewed as a bearish signal for major indices, prompting investors to be cautious of the potential risks posed by bearish technical catalysts.
- Earnings Growth Potential: Micron Technology's stock has surged nearly 300% over the past year, compared to TSMC's 92% increase, indicating Micron's strong profitability amid rising AI demand, with continued growth expected into 2026.
- Market Competitive Advantage: As the world's largest contract chip manufacturer, TSMC is poised to maintain its leadership position due to its advanced manufacturing technology and ongoing price increase strategy, driving long-term revenue growth.
- Price and Supply-Demand Dynamics: The surge in demand for Micron's high-bandwidth memory chips has led to significant short-term earnings growth; however, increased competition and capacity expansion may lead to price declines, impacting future profitability.
- Valuation Comparison: Micron trades at a price-to-earnings ratio of just 6.5, while TSMC's ratio is nearly 24, suggesting that while Micron's current valuation appears fair, long-term investors may prefer TSMC's stable growth outlook.











