Ebay Wannabe's?

Here are two stocks that have models similar to Ebay - GMKT (G-Market) and MELI (MercadoLibre).

GMKT is based in South Korea. This company's model is more similar to Amazon than Ebay but they don't store the inventory itself. They sell varied products ranging from clothes, electronics, accessories and recently started selling persihables like meat, vegetables and fruits. They have been planning to luanch a Japanese site, which might happen some time during the 2nd half of this year.

MELI currently operates in Brazil and Argentina the largest countries in South America. It's model is very similar to Ebay. MELI is growing at an explosive rate, and it is probably easier for them to expand to the rest of South America.

Because of that MELI trades at a much higher multiple than GMKT. I am invested in both the stocks and will continue to do that unless something dramatic happens.

What are your thoughts? Please post your comments.

BRIC Weightage

Is this a good time to change the weightage of BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) stocks? Not sure if this is the right thing to do, but between China and India - I feel more and more comfortable with increasing the exposure to India at the expense of China. The reasons for this are:

• China's stock market seems to be murkier and there is a possibility of stock market coming down after Olympics.
• India's market has come down 25% from its highs, and the average P/E of the broad market is very reasonable at around 18 with still lot of growth.

I have slightly lightened my exposure to China and added more to India. If you have equally weigted portfolio to BRIC, I would suggest to consider weightage change to something like:

• Brazil - 25%
• Russia - 25%
• India - 30%
• China - 20%

I could be really wrong here, but taking my chances with slight changes.

My Recent Purchases

Brazil and Latin America: This market seems to be doing extremely well. I have recently added a closed end fund - LDF to add to my existing positions in FLATX and SBS.

Option Calls: Sold Jan 2009 Puts on RIMM, MA, IBN and NOK. (Selling puts in a very simple explanation translates to betting that the stock price goes up or doesn't go down from its strike price).

Technology stocks: Added to my positions on VDSI and GMKT. Hoping that GMKT will take off during this year. Addded ITWO as a sepculative play hoping that it will get bought over in the next few months.

Alternate Energy (Solar and Wind): With the oil price going up, the solar and wind energy stocks seems to be taking off. Not sure how this sector will turn out in the long run, but got into STP, SOL and TRN as short term trades. If you want to play it safer, here are two safe stocks that are indirect plays in alternate energy: GE and CY (which is a majority holder in SPWR).