This post (along with another one covering the first half of June that will also be sent out this weekend) gets caught up on April-May research for rest of the world (also see: 🌏 Southeast Asia Stock Picks (April-May 2026)) – including a number of Middle East stocks.

If you have listened to any recent alt-finance podcasts interviewing Martin Armstrong, he has pointed out that Middle East/GCC countries (apparently Iraq and the UAE in particular) are not as rich as they seem as they heavily borrowed during COVID. Armstrong has explained that is why Iran keeps attacking the GCC to damage their economies and ability to service debt as they want to trigger a financial crisis involving those countries’ governments which will then involve their banks and spill over globally.

I think he or others I have listened to have also noted that the large amount of Internet traffic (and thus financial data needed for banking/investment transactions) that travels through cables passing through the Gulf. Disrupting those cables along with hitting Middle East data centers with drones (something Iran has already done) could also trigger a financial crisis.

I would have to add that given the amount of damage these countries may have received (as there is a near total reporting blackout as to the extent of the damage) and the need to reconfigure infrastructure (e.g. build pipelines that bypass the Straits of Hormuz, increase military spending/defense capabilities, etc.), GCC countries will need to raise cash. If that happens, one has to wonder what’s going to prop up the USA’s AI and stock market bubbles (unless Trump has told them to not even think about dumping USA assets)…

And while Middle East banks (several are covered in this post) have long looked interesting (along with Singapore and South African banks), I also have to wonder how much exposure they have to real estate and any mortgages or developer loans on that real estate.

Again, people might have short memories; but I still think its going to take years for those who seek to live and invest in safe havens (SE Asia, Mauritius, etc. must be looking good right now to the people who would normally consider the GCC…) to forget missiles flying over Dubai shopping malls and hitting GCC airports…

Nevertheless, one needs to remember that Carlos Salim’s family made their initial fortune buying up choice real estate in Mexico City during some of the darkest days of the Mexican revolution. On the other hand, the Sassoons (as chronicled in “The Sassoons: The Great Global Merchants and the Making of an Empire”) pulled their money out of colonial India in favor of Shanghai Bund real estate (which did not work out to well for them during WW2 and after 1949…).

In others, now is the time to at least have Middle East stocks on the radar while being mindful of what could go right or wrong…

Specific stocks covered in this post (with a focus on some countries or stocks that are hopefully more accessible to retail investors via Interactive Brokers or via a foreign listing – see our first posts – Mid-March 2025, Early April 2025, April 2025, May 2025, June 2025, July 2025, August 2025, September 2025, October 2025, November 2025, December 2025, January 2026, February 2026, 🌏 SE Asia March 2026, March 2026 & 🌏 Southeast Asia April-May 2026) plus further DeepSeek analysis/summary of this post:

[Note: On desktop browsers, an autogenerated table of contents will appear on the left side linked to each stock. I will add those links below after publishing/emailing this post – hopeful that won’t hit the character limit again on Substack posts…]

I have been giving these posts to DeepSeek to analyse/summarize with the output format seemingly changing on a fairly regular basis despite asking the same question and the input being consistent. This time around, the initial output I received was in Chinese (not a problem as I asked it to translate into English). There was also the following hallucination: “…Distell Group (DGH) (beverages) [ITS SUPPOSED TO BE Ambra SA (WSE: AMB / FRA: 1W7) BASED ON THE YIELD CITED].”

So as you can see, AI is helpful (its an extremely helpful time saver in aiding in formatting these posts e.g. extracting stock names to use has headings/TofC and tags); but the output is NOT to be fully trusted and should be used as a starting point for further research…

With that said, readers can decide whether these DeepSeek insights or summary about these stocks are accurate:

🤖 DeepSeek Analysis

💎 Summary

And as always, this post is provided for informational purposes only (and to make your life easier…). It does not constitute investment advice and/or a recommendation…

📈🗄️ Fund documents / updates; ⚠️ Disclosures or restricted access e.g. based on your location, investor status, etc.; 🇼 Wikipedia page; 🔬 Research analysis (including articles/blog posts from fund managers, etc.); 🎥 Video; 🎙️ Podcast; 🎬 Webinar; 📰 Newspaper/magazine article; 📯 Press release; 💻 Substack/blog/website article; ✅ Our own posts; 🗃️ Linked archived article; ⏰ Upcoming webinar or event.

Frontier & Emerging Market Stock Index

Asia

East Asia

🇨🇳 China / 🇭🇰 Hong Kong / 🇲🇴 Macau

Note: For more China & Hong Kong stock picks or ideas, see our monthly China & Hong Kong Stock Picks posts…

🇰🇷 Korea

Note: For more Korean stock picks or ideas, see our monthly Korean Stock Picks posts…

🇹🇼 Taiwan

Note: I have note seen any good Twitter/Substack/blog accounts or (free) equity research providers with good coverage of Taiwanese stocks (at least not in English). Please contact me if you know of any…

SE Asia

🌏 Southeast Asia Stock Picks (April-May 2026)

6 Jun

As I get caught up on posts, this post covers 2 months of stock research from various sources on widely followed Southeast Asian stocks which could be a safer haven from the current turmoil in the Middle East…

Read full story

South Asia

🇮🇳 India

Note: For more India stock picks or ideas, see our moneycontrol India Stock of the Day pieces. However, it appears moneycontrol has paused doing the segment as of the start of Q3 2025.

There are many good Twitter accounts covering individual Indian stocks. However, the Indian market remains difficult to access for foreign retail investors who are not NRIs.

Middle East

Note: International Securities LLC’s Morning Newsletter, Evening Wrap Reports and Weekly Market Summary reports under Research Library covering Middle East market developments are free.

I am still looking for more good Twitter/Substack/blog accounts or (free) equity research providers with good coverage of Middle East stocks. Please contact me if you know of any…

🇯🇴 Jordan

Capital Bank Of Jordan

🔬 CAPITAL BANK OF JORDAN NIM expansion and loan growth provide support to outlook, valuation compelling (Arqaam Capital) May 21, 2026 ⚠️

🇯🇴 🇮🇶 🇸🇦 Capital Bank Of Jordan (ASE: CAPL) – Commercial & investment banking services. 🇼 🏷️
Price/Book (MRQ): 0.96
P/E: 6.05 / Dividend Yield: 6.07% (Investing.com)

🇴🇲 Oman

Oq Exploration and Production CJSC

🔬 OQEP A sharp sequential EPS recovery in Q1 of 75% q/q on higher volumes; Reiterate BUY on higher oil prices at lucrative 10% DY (Arqaam Capital) April 15, 2026 ⚠️

🇴🇲🏛️ Oq Exploration and Production CJSC (MSM: OQEP) or OQEP – Pure-play oil & gas exploration & production company. 🇼 🏷️
Price/Book (MRQ): 4.14
P/E: N/A / Dividend Yield: 9.33% (Investing.com)

🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia

Al-Saif Stores for Development & Investment Company

🔬 AlSaif Stores Q1 26: Strong top-line growth and operational efficiency support earnings recovery. (Arqaam Capital) May 6, 2026 ⚠️

🔬 AlSaif Stores Positioned to capture KSA’s structural consumption upside through differentiated retail and disciplined expansion (Arqaam Capital) April 30, 2026 ⚠️

🌍 Al-Saif Stores for Development & Investment Company (TADAWUL: 4192) – Home appliances & utensil retailer. 🏷️
Price/Book (Current): 4.56
Trailing P/E: 38.67 (no forward P/E) / Forward Annual Dividend Yield: 0.86% (Yahoo! Finance)

Alinma Bank SJSC

🔬 Alinma Bank – Lower impairments and financing growth drove profitability momentum (FAB Securities) April 30, 2026 ⚠️

🇸🇦 Alinma Bank SJSC (TADAWUL: 1150) – Islamic banking services. 🇼 🏷️
Price/Book (Current): 1.50
Trailing P/E: 12.36 (no forward P/E) / Forward Annual Dividend Yield: 4.03% (Yahoo! Finance)

Etihad Etisalat Company SJSC

🔬 Etihad Etisalat (Mobily) – Growth across all segments and improved efficiency underpin profitability (FAB Securities) April 29, 2026 ⚠️

🇸🇦 Etihad Etisalat Company SJSC (TADAWUL: 7020) or Mobily – Mobile wireless telecommunication & fiber optic networks. 🇼 🏷️
Price/Book (Current): 2.42
Trailing P/E: 13.57 (no forward P/E) / Forward Annual Dividend Yield: 4.45% (Yahoo! Finance)