(FORTUNE Magazine) – It's time to send your money on an overseas trip. That's right, just ship it off. It can use some fresh air. With U.S. stocks very richly priced at 24.5 times earnings and apparently stuck in neutral until after the election, you could do better in other countries' stock markets. True, much of the world is in a slump like the U.S. But you can still find attractive markets if you scan the continents carefully. The countries in the table below all have strong economic growth rates vs. the world -- or at least within their regions. What's more, their stock markets trade at very reasonable price/earnings ratios, well below those in the U.S. The sweetener is that you can invest through closed-end funds trading at big discounts to their net asset values (or NAVs), the market values of the securities and cash in their portfolios, minus liabilities. A big discount doesn't guarantee great performance, but it provides a measure of comfort. All these funds trade on exchanges and can be bought from any broker. All is not perfect in these markets. Each has bumped up against one sort of problem or another recently, putting off investors. But that doesn't trouble analysts who follow the countries closely; they see the problems as ; surmountable. For the prices at which the markets trade, they think the risks are well worth taking. Says Thomas Herzfeld, a Miami-based investor in domestic and foreign closed-end funds: ''It often pays to take a contrarian investing posture. You try to buy on bad news and sell on good news.'' Every country should have Malaysia's problem; it has been growing too fast. The result has been too much inflation, which the government has been fighting by raising interest rates and allowing the currency to rise against the dollar. The policy was ''farsighted,'' according to Barton Biggs, Morgan Stanley's director of worldwide investment strategy: ''Things were happening too fast.'' Biggs thinks the period of adjustment is now over, and Malaysia will start easing rates. Yet Malaysian shares still sell at 18 times earnings, and you can buy the Malaysia Fund at a bargain 15% discount to net asset value. Thailand too has been stumbling over its fast growth. The lack of infrastructure -- roads, communications systems, and the like -- has been a particularly heavy burden. To help alleviate it, the government has decided to grant concessions to private companies, including those from outside Thailand, for various large-scale projects. An even greater concern of investors lately has been the country's authoritarian government. More than 40 persons were killed last May when security forces opened fire on demonstrators. That sent the market reeling and put a big damper on foreign investment and tourism. However, the atmosphere has since calmed, and investment strategist Andrew Gregory of Kleinwort Benson thinks that the newly elected civilian government is likely to take care not to make waves and hurt the economy any further. The market trades at a very reasonable P/E of 12, and the Thai Growth Fund sells at a 17% discount to net asset value. The Philippines has not enjoyed the same momentum as many of its Asian neighbors. That appears to be changing now under President Fidel Ramos, who was elected earlier this year in a surprisingly peaceful election. To encourage more foreign investment, he has eased currency exchange rules, allowing foreign investors to more easily take out their profits. On the political front, Ramos, a former general, has moved to make peace with communist insurgents. Michael Porter, a closed-end fund analyst with Smith Barney, believes that with the country's market recently trading at just 12 times earnings, it's a great buy -- and purchased through First Philippine Fund, which trades at a 19% discount, it becomes an even better buy. Not long ago Mexico was hot because of its extraordinary economic and political reforms of recent years. Few observers expect them to come undone, but a combination of events this year has temporarily spooked the market. One problem is a plethora of new issues -- more than $20 billion in the past two years. Another is the U.S. election. No one is sure yet what Clinton would do about the proposed free-trade agreement if elected. With Mexican shares trading at 11 times earnings, however, Henry de Vismes, an international investment strategist at Citibank, believes those concerns are already reflected in the market. He expects earnings to grow 20% to 25% next year. You can invest at an even cheaper price through the Mexico Fund, which trades at an 11% discount to net asset value. Portugal's economy may seem sleepy in comparison with its Asian and Latin American counterparts. But next year's 2.7% estimated growth rate is nearly triple the rate expected for Europe as a whole, and analysts estimate that earnings will grow by more than 25%. On top of that, the country's inflation has declined considerably. One problem is the small size of Portugal's market. When big investors discovered it a few years ago, the market rose too high, and it has since fallen too low after many of those investors moved on. Says money manager James Smith of Murray Johnstone in Glasgow: ''It's like the fat man taking a bath; when he gets in, the water spills over the side, so that when he gets out, there's not much left.'' Lots of room in the tub now, though: The stock market recently stood 46% below its all-time high, and the Portugal Fund trades at a 14% discount.

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