There is no sugar coating this, so I’ll give it to you straight: Spain’s economy is a wreck.

The country’s unemployment rate is fast approaching a quarter of the population, and business activity has ground to a halt. Just this week, Catalonia–one of its richest regions–had to go to the Spanish government and request a bailout–just as Spain itself will almost certainly be going to Brussels for the same.

BUYING OPPORTUNITY
It may surprise you that I consider Spanish stocks to be one of the most attractive investments in the world right now. Spanish stocks, as measured by the popular iShares MSCI Spain ETF (EWP), are some of the cheapest in the world, selling for barely 10 times earnings.

And even after the high-profile dividend cut of Spanish telecom giant Telefonica (TEF)–up until very recently the largest company in Spain by market cap–they are also some of the highest yielding.

But, being cheap isn’t enough. After all, with the Spanish economy in the toilet, perhaps Spanish stocks should be cheap.

BLUE CHIP DIVERSIFICATION
I would beg to differ. Due to linguistic ties with its former colonies and due to Spain having a relatively small domestic market, Spanish companies are some of the most globally diversified in the world. Many of Spain’s blue chips get more of their revenues from Latin America than from Spain herself, which is exactly what I like to see.

ECB TO THE RESCUE
And should ECB president Mario Draghi come through with his expected bond-buying spree, we could have a recipe for a monster rally in Spanish stocks.

THE TRADE
I recommend investors pick up shares of EWP today and plan to hold for the next three to six months. But be sure to use a stop loss–say, 20 percent–in the event that the Eurozone starts to melt down again.

EWP Spanish Stock Investment