New Investing Metric: Red Tape

Washington, D.C. – Just over a year ago, as we’ve done for the past several years, we did a stock search with the aid of an annual World Bank survey on the best countries to do business. Stocks featured in that story averaged a 48% total return through Monday’s market close, versus gains of 19% and 27%, respectively, for the S&P 500 and an exchange-traded fund tracking Morgan Stanley Capital International’s Europe, Australasia, and Far East index.

The idea here is simple: Investors looking to place bets abroad should stick to countries that don’t tie up business folk with red tape. Past performance doesn’t guarantee anything, but given the results from last year’s story, we’re giving this screen another go.

Full story at Forbes.com