The Nordic countries include Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Norway and Iceland in Northern Europe. These are called as Nordic countries because they share a common history, cultural and political systems. Scandinavia is sometimes used as a synonym for Nordic countries.
Except Iceland, the other four countries have some of their company stocks listed in the US as ADRs. The following table lists these nine ADRs:
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1. Denmark-based shipping company Dampskibsselskabet Torm (TRMD) was a top performing shipping sector stock until recently. Its vessels transport oil, iron ore and other commodities.TORM pays a dividend of 8.02% and the P/E is 1.0. The annual dividend growth over the past 5 years is 58%. After announcing earnings on Nov 21, the company announced that a special shareholder meeting is being called to approve an interim dividend of DKK 4.50 per share. TORM share price fell heavily in recent months as the Baltic Dry Index- which is an index that measures the cost to move goods between places plunged.
2. Novo Nordisk A/S (NVO) is a Denmark-based healthcare company specializing in diabetes care and diabetes products. NVO has a yield of 1.84% and a P/E of 22.81. year-to-date the stock is down only about 20% since healthcare related stocks have held up pretty well in this market. The company is expanding in emerging markets like China where it is setting up a plant. Earnings have grown at 17% annually in the last 5 years.
3.The world famous Nokia (NOK) is a finnish telecom equipment maker. The company makes some of the cheapest and most efficient cell phones and markets around the world. They are especially popular in the developing countries. The current yield is 5.89% and the P/E is 6.85. Due to the current credit crisis and tough competition Nokia announced on November 27 that they will stop selling phones in Japan.4. The OTC listed,UPM-Kymmene(UPMKY) is a paper producer in Finland. The stock is down about 27% year-to-date. P/E is 24.22 and the yield is 8.14%.
5.Acergy SA (ACGY) is a seabed-to-surface engineering and construction contractor that mainly manufactures equipments and services needed by the offshore oil and gas industry. It pays a dividend of 3.67% and the P/E is 5.80. As the price of crude oil fell over 50% in the past few months, oil related stocks including Acergy fell hard. Year-to-date ACGY is down 73.96%.
6.StatoilHydro(STO) is a Norway-based integrated oil and gas producer.It used to be called Statoil ASA. After the merger with Norsk Hydro the company changed its name to Statoil Hydro. Total revenues increased annually 16.5% in the last 5 years. STO currently yields 4.80%
7.Telenor(TELNY) is a mobile telecom services provider in Norway.As the stock price fell over 77% so far this year, the dividend yield has increased to 12.47%. Annual earnings growth in the past 5 years is 42%.
8.Sweden-based Ericcson (ERIC) is an telecom equipment maker. ERIC is down 39% year-to-date. The current yield is 5.92%. Ericsson used to be a high-flying stock during the late 90s but has been mostly flat in the last 5 years.
9.Volvo AB(VOLVY) is a world-class auto and truck manufacturer. In October overall sales fell 12% year-over-year. But truck sales fell a whopping 99.7% as the company took order for just 115 trucks compared to 41,970 in the third quarter of 2007. The current yield is 20.81% and the P/E is 4.78%.
