Money Men Bullish On African Stocks

Is Africa worth a look for the American investor?  Tim Seymour of Seygem Asset Management and Terrence Gray of DWS Scudder answer emphatically in the affirmative.

"If you look at last year, five of the 10 fastest-growing economies in the world were in Africa," Gray told CNBC.  "GDP's been very strong, inflation has come down, and, looking at it from a bottom-up, stock-picker's perspective, there's a lot of attractive companies that we can buy."

He likes Nigeria's Guaranty Trust Bank.

"They're gowing their loan book about 100 percent per annum for the past three years," he said.  "There's a massive amount of money going into infrastructure in Africa, and this is one of the few ways to play that investment."

While Gray focuses on Nigeria, Zambia, Ghana, and Kenya, Seymour finds opportunities in South Africa.

"The South African miners look interesting," Seymour told CNBC.  "They've actually priced in a lot of the power disruption, and therefore, the impact on their output.  We like Gold Fields

, we like Sasol , which is an integrated oil- and coal-to-fuels and petrochemicals company, one of the best in the world; Harmony

; these have all gotten a boost back."

Seymour said a big upcoming announcement by the finance ministry of South Africa could be a catalyst to help those stocks rebound.

He also recommends two exchange-traded funds, iShares MSCI South Africa

and the more regional SPDR IDX SH FDS

.

© 2008 CNBC.com