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Violent protests and political turmoil sweeping across Latin America may be unsettling to investors, but what’s lost amid troubling daily headlines is an encouraging backdrop: Political reforms, reviving economic growth, and a rising middle class in some key nations.

While investors should expect high volatility, these trends spell opportunities for careful investors in 2020, says Luis Carrillo , portfolio manager and head of J.P. Morgan’s Latin America Group.

Recent years have seen dismal growth in Latin American economies and capital markets. For the past five years, average annual economic growth has been .07%, while the MSCI Emerging Markets Latin America Index has returned an average annual 0.44%.

But there are signs that tides are turning. While historically dependent on commodity exports, Latin American economies are diversifying, the middle class is expanding, and consumption is rising within many nations, Carrillo says. While he notes that this evolution is slow and still in its early stages, it’s a thematic trend that can help improve economic stability and drive growth.

J.P. Morgan projects an uptick in Latin American economic growth to 1.5% next year. Economic health in the region is largely driven by Brazil, the leading economy and largest capital market. Despite being a highly controversial figure on many social, political and environmental fronts, the election of pro-business President Jair Bolsonaro in 2018 and his commitment to economic reforms have raised the confidence of consumers in Brazil and investors. The nation sunk into a deep recession in 2015 and 2016 and has since rebounded—as has its stock market. Since bottoming in January 2016, Brazil’s stocks surged more than 155%.

“There’s a more fiscally responsible government, and most importantly, you’ve got a congress that’s working as much with the president as on their own to pass fiscal reform, labor reform, et cetera,” says Marco Spinar , associate portfolio manager of Neuberger Berman Emerging Markets Equity Fund (NEMIX). “This has created a huge sentiment change from where things were even two years ago.”

Why Active Management is Best

Peru is another bright spot in Latin America, Spinar says, adding that he has a big overweight position in the nation’s stocks because of its strong economy and effective central bank.

But he notes that it’s difficult to make sweeping statements about which countries or sectors offer the most exciting opportunities. Spinar’s best picks are company specific, and his holdings are very different than any Latin America stock benchmark.

To help spot opportunities and manage risk, Carillo recommends active management, adding that broad Latin America indexes are made up primarily of large-cap companies with a heavy tilt toward commodities.

What’s more, the region is highly diverse, comprised of 33 nations with wildly different economic forecasts. Consider Bolivia’s predicted economic growth of 3.8% in 2020, compared to an expected 1% or so of economic contraction in Nicaragua and Argentina.

Among opportunities Spinar likes is financial service firm Credit Corp in Peru. “It’s really a management story. It is well run and dominant with an insurance company, asset management, and micro financing, [and is] in a good position to capture growth.”

Also notable in financial services is Brazil’s PagSeguro, which is an online payment platform with more than 4 million users, Spinar says. The firm disappointed on third-quarter earnings, but has a strong customer base and is building a digital bank.

The manager’s portfolio favorites also include Mexico’s Alsea, which runs many popular American restaurant brands such as Burger King, Domino’s, and Starbucks, and Brazil’s stock exchange, the B3. Since interest rates have come down from double digits, investors have increasingly shifted assets into stocks.

“There’s been a huge increase in volume on the exchange,” Spinar says. “In the last quarter, operating income was up over 30%.”

Another pick: Parex Resources Inc. While based in Calgary, Canada, the firm’s assets are held in Columbia. “We’re quite underweight energy because we don’t like the state-owned companies in the sector, but this is something we do like,” he says. “It’s a very underappreciated stock.”

Even with oil prices at $60 a barrel, the company has a free cash flow yield of almost 10%, no leverage, and is paying out healthy dividends and doing stock buybacks, Spinar says.

Protests in Perspective

While opportunities are numerous for diligent stock pickers, it’s understandable that investors get nervous given the deluge of news about Latin American tumult. In October, Ecuador and Chile declared states of emergency after masses took to the streets to protest economic policies. Peru shut down its Congress last month. Argentina is languishing in a deep recession, likely to persist through next year. And Mexico’s new President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador , who took office in December last year, is struggling to address slumping consumer confidence.

But Carrillo points out that discord over wealth disparities and political strife isn’t a defining problem of Latin America’s—such tensions are stewing around the globe.

“We’re not just going to be seeing this in Latin America, but in the rest of the world, including the U.S.,” he says, a view that may help bring some perspective and allow investors to look beyond the headlines.