Zacks Industry Outlook Highlights: Vivo, Gafisa, Embotelladora Andina, Petrobras and Telesp.

Chicago, IL – June 18, 2009 – Zacks.com announces the latest Industry Outlook. Today’s outlook from Zacks Equity Research analyst Claudio Freitas discusses the Latin American Markets sector. Highlighted stocks include: Vivo (VIV), Gafisa (GFA), Embotelladora Andina (AKO.A), Petrobras (PBR) and Telesp (TSP).

As we predicted, the Brazilian currency has been recovering fast in the last months -- a trend that we expect to last. Even after some aggressive interest rates cuts, Brazilian rates are much higher than anything comparable in the U.S. and Europe and we do not expect Brazilian rates to fall below 8.5% in 2009. Additionally, other fundamentals remains solid, like the positive trade balance, small current account deficit, no net external debt and international reserves over US$200 billion.

Finally, the weakness of the dollar has been a major force behind the price recovery of the commodities, which is good for Brazil as a commodity producer. We believe international investors are now seeking geographical and currency diversification, and this trend will continue in the following months.

In such a business environment, we would recommend some Brazilian domestic-focused companies like telecom companies such as Vivo (VIV), real estate companies like Gafisa (GFA), consumer goods producers like Embotelladora Andina (AKO.A), the oil giant Petrobras (PBR), and high-dividend utilities like Telesp (TSP).

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Read the full analyst report on VIV

Read the full analyst report on GFA

Read the full analyst report on AKO.A

Read the full analyst report on PBR

Read the full analyst report on TSP