Vimpel-Communications JSC (ADR) (VIP)

30% owned by institutions, growing markets in the former soviet republics. 22 P/E is still cheap, I expect a boom upto 70 P/E (and for that you may call me nuts). The thing is - since revenue will by no doubt increase rapidly, it will take a long time for the P/E to reach that high and therefor there's a huge potential for the stock to march rapidly within the next two years.

Was as cheap as chips at start of '06 - still cheap going into '07 with great management, strong cash flows (especially when capex drops off), and a good play on russian consumption. Prefer MBT at this point.

War! What is it good for? Absolutely nothing!

Nice fundamentals, and a recent price drop due to Putin's slamming of MTL. This is just a points play for me, I have no real money on the table with this one. Short term momentum is downwards so this pick will probably be in the red for a little while, but I do like to catch a falling knife... they do sometimes bounce real high afterwards. If this stock interests you, check out MBT, which I picked moments ago for the same reasons.

Vimpel is owned by the Alpha Group in Russia. The Alpha Group is owned by billionare Mikhail Fridman.Fridman, 43, is a secretive Russian billionaire whois a key figure in Russia's dangerous policy of selling nuclear technology to the Islamic Republic of Iran. Simply Google his dealings.

The company has purported outstanding earnings and growth - yet instead of using that growth to fund future projects PVO(G) - they just borrowed 500 Million.

The lack of accounting standards and the general knowledge of "shady" dealings in Russia has me believing the run-up in this stock is not based on truth - but on lies. I see this stock losing 1/2 its value in the next two years.

A premier runner in the telecom industry in the greater Russia and Surrounding areas with unlimited expansion potential. Additional serviced aimed for the current and furture markets is untapped, Currently selling for way below value. All long-term debt will be stabilized in less than a year when the ruble becomes strong again. There is no real downside to the company at this point besides the slidign ruble, but that will cease by Spring 2009 and begin to rebound.

A Ken Heebner pick, which he his holding in his fund going into 2008.

It seems wireless is saturated in Russia, so VIP is going into the packaged internet/telephone subscriptions through a recent acquisition, to grow margins which appears to be a first for the country.

It's also got operations in central Asia as well.

this stock has long legs- it will be up there with MBT & CHL

vimpel is a well run company with great fundamentals and big plans for a bright future... check out www.vimpelcom.com (the site is english) I own real money shares of VIP and I'm interested in buying more. Also as of today Vimpel has announced an offer to buy Golden Telecom (GLDN) for $100 dollars a share.

There is also room to grow in the Russian mobile phone environment. Vimpel's territory covers around 250 million people which includes Russia and surrounding countries. There are currently 167.4 million mobile phone contracts... keep in mind a large proportion of these people with cell phones have more than one phone...this is very much an active market.

Investors business daily gives it a 99 = A+ rating
Fool is 5 stars

With America's economy as volatile as it is... world markets are beginning to become more and more attractive. And when i say world...i mean...other than china ; )

NO BRAINER

i like the fundamentals, the stock appears undervalued to me. i like that its a forign play as russia seems to be experiencing lots of growth lately it should be a good play for the next couple years i would think.

I've chosen yet another CAPS pick for this reason:

VIP just purchased the rights to another huge market to expand into.

I use the word "rights" loosely. VIP just paid not just pennies on the dollar, but tenths of pennies on the dollar for a corporation that had limited ability of expansion or upgrades.

Their five year plan for Cambodia includes outfitting the country with telecommunication ability like they have never seen. From my limited research the Cambodian market has only about 10% coverage. Even if that can be doubled in 2-4 years that brings millions more up to the 21st century.

They expect to see $10 per month per user income, and with 2 million users - You do the math. They expect the upgrades and expansion to cost $200m. So that is a one year payoff (generally speaking). That is a two year payoff for the stock holders.

And note - none of this includes the massive amounts of Asian tentacles they are putting out.

Russian wireless provider. Adding landline and broadband business. Expanding into the CIS countries such as the Ukraine. Growth expected to be upwards of 40% for 2008.

large Chinese cell phone provider growing rapidly in a very large growth market, western accounting standards I understand, and pays a dividend

Russian economy play. Lower inflation than India or China and better educated masses than Brazil or Africa.

This stock was picked by TMF Jessesama.

$$$$$

Best in the mobile phone world in Russia.

Putin's still in charge!

10.000