For investors becoming disenchanted with U.S. stocks, one investment officer says it's time to turn to another burgeoning opportunity abroad.
Specifically, Curtis Holden of Tanglewood Wealth Management says people are passing over international markets such as Europe and Japan in favor of U.S. equities. However, developed markets have an important place in an investor's portfolio right now, he contended.
"A lot of investors have kind of left the EAFE stocks for dead," Holden said Thursday on CNBC's "Trading Nation," referring to the index that tracks developed markets in Europe, Australia and the Far East.
"If you're just investing in the U.S., you're making a mistake," Holden told CNBC. "Don't get too pessimistic about the rest of the world. Remember that the EAFE stocks have some good things going for them right now and take that into consideration as you're structuring your portfolio."
However, Dennis Davitt, chief investment officer of Harvest Volatility Advisors, said the true mistake is getting into European and Japanese stocks.
"I'm still cautious on [markets] outside of the U.S," Davitt said Thursday on "Trading Nation," given the steep drop in commodities prices over the past year. While Holden said developed countries are actually benefiting from falling commodities prices, Davitt believes that the weakness in emerging markets translates to more pain for regions like Europe.
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"The reality is, Europe deals with commodity-driven nations," he said. Contrary to what some believe, "they are very oil dependent."
European stocks also tend to react more strongly to negative news, Davitt said. Instead, he recommends that investors craving international exposure look to multinational U.S. companies or outright bets on commodities. For example, the should outperform the small-cap Russell 2000 in times of international economic strength, he said.
"If you look at multinational companies based in the U.S., embedded in them you get the international exposure that you're looking for," he said Thursday.
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