Mobius eyes consumer stocks

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Consumer-oriented stocks are positioned to do well next year in markets such as India and China, where a distribution "revolution" is taking place, emerging markets money manager Mark Mobius said on Monday.

Door-to-door distribution is just beginning to take hold in these markets, a trend that should bode well for certain retail stocks, said Mobius, who was speaking at the Reuters Investment Outlook 2007 Summit in New York, via teleconference from Dubai.

He pointed to companies such as Oriflame Cosmetics SA (ORIsdb.ST: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), a direct-marketing Swedish cosmetics company that is expanding in Russia.

"I've got my eye on big consumer stocks," said Mobius, who oversees about $32 billion in emerging market assets at Templeton Asset Management, a unit of Franklin Resources Inc. (BEN.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz).

"These countries on a per capita basis have little consumption of these kinds of luxury products ... and a revolution is taking place in distribution."

Door-to-door distribution is "the kind of the thing that will drive growth in many companies," said Mobius, who added that consumer banking stocks should also perform well in these markets.

Mobius said he's focusing on India and China, but said South Africa is another promising market for broadening consumption.

"More of the country is coming into the consumer markets," he said. "Credit markets are beginning to reach these people."