Sector-ADRs
Foreign Utility Stocks and their Current Dividend Yields
The table below lists many of the foreign utility stocks trading in the U.S. markets. Some of these stocks pay more than 4% dividends while others do not pay any dividends.
| Company | Ticker | Country | March, 2009 - Low | Current Price | Growth | Current Dividend Yield |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Edenor SA | EDN | Argentina | $2.91 | $7.73 | 165.64% | N/A |
| MetroGAS S.A. | MGS | Argentina | $1.01 | $2.00 | 98.02% | N/A |
| Transportadora de Gas Del Sur S.A. | TGS | Argentina | $1.63 | $3.45 | 111.66% | 1.48% |
| Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. | BIP | Bermuda | $7.15 | $17.59 | 146.01% | 6.08% |
| COMP ENERG CEMIG ADS | CIG | Brazil | $12.60 | $16.68 | 32.38% | 2.34% |
| CPFL Energia S.A. | CPL | Brazil | $34.93 | $62.50 | 78.93% | 6.37% |
| Centrais Electricas Brasileiras S.A. | EBR | Brazil | $9.71 | $14.60 | 50.36% | N/A |
| Companhia Paranaense de Energia | ELP | Brazil | $8.60 | $20.80 | 141.86% | 3.10% |
| Companhia de Saneamento Basico do Estado de Sao Paulo | SBS | Brazil | $17.97 | $39.81 | 121.54% | N/A |
| TransAlta Corp. | TAC | Canada | $13.86 | $21.95 | 58.37% | 4.98% |
| TransCanada Corp. | TRP | Canada | $22.24 | $37.50 | 68.62% | 4.17% |
| Consolidated Water Co. Ltd. | CWCO | Cayman Islands | $6.35 | $14.59 | 129.76% | 1.97% |
| Enersis S.A. | ENI | Chile | $13.50 | $20.52 | 52.00% | 2.36% |
| Empresa Nacional de Electricidad S.A. | EOC | Chile | $34.24 | $47.89 | 39.87% | 2.30% |
| A-Power Energy Generation Systems, Ltd. | APWR | China | $3.00 | $10.39 | 246.33% | N/A |
| Huaneng Power International Inc. | HNP | China | $22.65 | $23.28 | 2.78% | 2.51% |
| Veolia Environnement SA | VE | France | $19.46 | $34.80 | 78.83% | 4.80% |
| Korea Electric Power Corp. | KEP | South Korea | $6.85 | $16.13 | 135.47% | N/A |
| Cascal N V | HOO | United Kingdom | $2.07 | $7.44 | 259.42% | 1.21% |
| National Grid plc | NGG | United Kingdom | $36.64 | $49.65 | 35.51% | 4.62% |
Note: Data noted is believed to be accurate. Please do your own research before making any investment decisions.
Four Construction and Materials Sector ADRs
The table below lists four ADR stocks from the construction and materials industry:
| S.No. | Company | Ticker | Country |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cemex | CX | Mexico |
| 2 | CRH | CRH | Ireland |
| 3 | Empresas ICA | ICA | Mexico |
| 4 | James Hardie Industries | JHX | Australia |
Cemex of Mexico is engaged in the production of and marketing of cement.Empresas ICA operates in the construction sector as well as maintenance and operation of highways and tunnels in Mexico. Ireland-based CRH is another building materials production and distribution company.James Hardie Industries of Australia is a manufacturer of fiber cement products and markets them in United States, Australia, New Zealand, and the Philippines.
A Review of Foreign Food Retailers
Some of the largest food and drug retailers in the U.S. are Kroger(KR), Safeway (SWY), Whole Food Market(WFMI), Supervalu (SVU) and The Great Atlantic and Pacific (GAP). These companies operate in multiple states and take advantage of their size by selling products sometimes at very low prices. Even the world’s largest retail chain Wal-Mart(WMT) is a major player in the food retail industry with its Sam’s Club division and Wal-Mart Super Stores that have large food sections. Due to continuous over-production and the commodity nature of food products, food retailing is a low margin business and usually involves cut-throat competition as each retailer tries to take away market share from rivals.
The same business terrain exists overseas for this sector. Wal-Mart’s global competitor Carrefour of France is not listed on the organized exchanges. However five foreign food retailers shown below are available for US investors as ADRs:
| S.No. | Company | Ticker | Country |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Blue Square-Israel | BSI | Israel |
| 2 | China Nepstar Chain Drugstore | NPD | China |
| 3 | Companhia Brasileira de Distribuicao | CBD | Brazil |
| 4 | Delhaize | DEG | Belgium |
| 5 | Grupo Casa Saba | SAB | Mexico |
Besides Europe and Asia, Belgian firm Delhaize Group(DEG) operates 1,500 stores in 16 states in the U.S. under the Food Lion, Bloom, Bottom Dollar, Harveys, Hannaford Bros., and Sweetbay names. Israel-based Blue Square Israel Ltd(BSI) has a current yield of 9.25%. China Nepstar Chain Drugstore Ltd. (NPD) is a retail drugstore chain with 2,709 stores located in 12 provinces and 76 cities across China. Companhia Brasileira de Distribuicao(CBD) operates 597 stores in Brazil selling food, clothing, home appliances, etc. Grupo Casa Saba (SAB) is a national wholesale consumer goods distributor in Mexico.
Nine Foreign Food Sector Stocks
As a consumer staples sector, stocks of food producing companies can provide some margin of safety and stability to a portfolio especially in adverse market conditions. Only a handful of foreign food companies trade in the organized U.S. exchanges.
Two of the large global food companies are Europe-based Unilever and Cadbury. British confectioner Cadbury is the owner many famous brands in the world such as Dairy Milk, Creme Egg, Stride, Chiclets, Trident, etc. American food giant Kraft Foods is now engaged in a takeover bid of Cadbury. Unilever’s portfolio of brands include Lipton, Dove, Sunsilk, Surf, Rexona, Pond’s and many others. The other six companies shown here have low market capitalizations and are from emerging markets.
The complete list of foreign food producers are listed below:
| S.No. | Company | Ticker | Country |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Agria Corporation | GRO | China |
| 2 | BRF - Brasil Foods | BRFS | Brazil |
| 3 | Cadbury | CBY | United Kingdom |
| 4 | Cresud | CRESY | Argentina |
| 5 | GRUMA | GMK | Mexico |
| 6 | Industrias Bachoco | IBA | Mexico |
| 7 | Unilever | UL | United Kingdom |
| 8 | Unilever | UN | Netherlands |
| 9 | Wimm-Bill-Dann Foods | WBD | Russia |
The Complete List of Chemical ADRs
The Complete List of Chemical ADR stocks traded in the organized US exchanges is listed below together with the 2009 returns:
| S.No. | Company | Ticker | Country | 2009 Returns |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Braskem | BAK | Brazil | 239.75% |
| 2 | ChemSpec International | CPC | China | n/a |
| 3 | Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical | SHI | China | 49.46% |
| 4 | Soc. Quimica y Minera de Chile | SQM | Chile | 54.04% |
| 5 | Syngenta | SYT | Switzerland | 43.77% |
Agri-Food Stocks Offer Potential Investment Opportunities
Food prices skyrocketed worldwide in 2007 and early 2008 leading to a crisis in many developing and under-developed countries. In 2008 and last year prices stumbled and the crisis faded away from headline news.
Last November BusinessWeek had an interesting report titled Land Rush in Africa. The article discussed in detail how Agri-business and global investors are scooping up fertile farmland in Africa. In the same month World Bank President Robert B. Zoellick warned that low food stocks and shortages could force food prices up again in 2010.At a panel discussion on food crisis three leaders warned that the food crisis may repeat again. One of the leader that shared this thought was Dr.Josette Sheeran of the United Nation World Food Progamme(WFP). She said that the cost of cereal had risen 17% and global food prices are 50% higher than just five years ago.
Some facts from the World Bank site on Food Crisis:
- 1.1bn people were living on less than $1 a day
- A 2 kg bag of rice now costs half the daily income of a poor family in Bangladesh
- Between 130m and 155m people fell into poverty in the last 2 years due to high prices
- Although lower than at their peak in 2008, major food grain prices are still above average
- Although international prices have fallen, local prices in many countries have not
In the World Investment Report 2009, UNCTAD said over 900 million people worldwide are undernourished and 65 countries are in serious danger of food shortages. Globally Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the agriculture sector has increased sharply since 2005. many of the large companies are getting involved in the upstream and downstream of the value-chain.Large multi-national companies participate in agriculture production by contract farming. Some of the countries with heavy investment by foreign companies in farming include Vietnam, Kenya and Brazil.
The continued rise in oil prices, weather-related and man-made events can cause food prices to go higher this year. During the crisis in 2007 many Agri sector stocks had incredible runs.
The Top 25 Trans-National Food and Beverage Companies that are increasingly moving into other parts of the value-chain are:
- Nestlé SA (OTC: NSRGY)
- Inbev SA (BUD)
Note: Budweiser merged with Inbev to form Anheuser-Busch InBev - Kraft Foods Inc (KFT)
- Unilever (UN, UL)
- Coca-Cola Company (KO)
- SAB Miller (SAM)
- Diageo Plc (DEO)
- Pernod Ricard SA
- Cadbury PLC (CBY)
- Bunge Limited (BG)
- Heineken NV (OTC: HINKY)
- Pepsico Inc (PEP)
- Molson Coors Brewing Company (TAP)
- Kirin Holdings Company Limited
- Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (ADM)
- Associated British Foods PLC
- Carlsberg A/S
- HJ Heinz Company (HNZ)
- Danone (OTC: DANOY)
- Anheuser-Busch Companies Inc
- Wilmar International Ltd. (Singapore)
- Sara Lee Corp. (SLE)
- Constellation Brands Inc (STZ)
- Fraser & Neave Ltd. (Singapore)
- Danisco A/S
Source: UNCTAD
Note: These companies were selected based on 2007 foreign assets
Investors can use the above list as a starting point to do further research for selecting stocks.
