Servas in Austrian means “Hello” .

Austria is a beautiful country with a unique situation. She is considered to be a “proxy” for investing into some of the fast growing countries of Eastern Europe like Czech Republic, Romania, Hungary etc. Because of its location and historical ties, Austrian companies are taking advantage of this huge growth in commerce in these countries.

In terms of investment, Austria has a few choices to offer for American investors. Listed below are some of them:

1.iShares Austria ETF – EWO
This is the easiest way to get exposure to the Austrian market.The fund has performed very well over the past 5 years and pays a decent dividend too.

2. Austria does not have any stock listed in the NYSE.

However there are some that trade in the OTC exchange. Here are some to look into:

a) Palfry – PLFRY.pk
Industrial Engineering

b) Erste Bank Der Oesterreichischen Sparkassen – EBKDY.pk
Large Bank making inroads into Eastern & Central Europe and profiting nicely from it.** Very cheap now

c) Verbund – OEZVY.pk
Electric Utility. This is a great foreign utility to invest in.

d) EVN – EVNNY.pk
Another utility

More on Austria later…