There are only four Belgium stocks listed in the US.Out of these, two stocks that are worth looking into are listed below:
1.Company: Delhaize Group
Ticker: DEG
Price per share: $77.92
Dividend Yield: 2.86%
Delhaize is a food retailer which usually has very low margin. The stock performance over the past 5 years has been average and the chart looks ok.There are other better opportunities in the food sector.
2.Company: Solvay SA
Ticker: SVYSY
Price per share: $154.50
Dividend Yield: 3.66%
Note: All stock data is as of June 6, 2008
Solvay operates in the Chemicals,Plastics and Pharmaceutical sector.1st quarter 2008 results announced last month showed pretty much flat numbers when compared with 1Q2007.For 26 years Solvay has increased dividend payments when possible and has never reduced it.The current yield is very good for a chemical company.
Both Delhaize and Solvay are part of the Belgium ETF discussed below.
One can also invest in Belgium by the ETF route. ishares Belgium ETF (EWK) has about $253+ Mil.assets and an expense ratio 0.51%.
EWK is HEAVILY concentrated with financial stocks making up over 60% of portfolio.So caution is warranted before investing in this ETF.Over 5 years the ETF has an annualized return of about 27.5%.