Generally Blue-Chips are used to refer to high quality large-cap established firms.Unlike small and medium caps blue-chips tend to less volatile and the probability of a firm going bankrupt is very small.
In order to identify the blue-chips of Eurozone countries, investors can use The EURO STOXX 50 Index. This index is comprised of 50 blue-chips from the Eurozone member countries of Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain.
One simple and easy way to invest in these firms is via the SPDR® EURO STOXX 50® ETF (FEZ). This ETF mimics the performance of the index. The fund has a dividend yield of 3.30% and an assets base of over $2.6 billion. The top three sectors in the fund are financials, industrials and consumer-staples.
The full list of the fund’s holdings are shown below:
| S.No. | Name | Sector |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Total SA | Energy |
| 2 | Anheuser-Busch InBev SA | Consumer Staples |
| 3 | Siemens AG | Industrials |
| 4 | SAP SE | Information Technology |
| 5 | Sanofi | Health Care |
| 6 | Bayer AG | Health Care |
| 7 | BASF SE | Materials |
| 8 | Unilever NV Cert. of shs | Consumer Staples |
| 9 | Daimler AG | Consumer Discretionary |
| 10 | Allianz SE | Financials |
| 11 | Banco Santander S.A. | Financials |
| 12 | BNP Paribas SA Class A | Financials |
| 13 | Deutsche Telekom AG | Telecommunication Services |
| 14 | ING Groep NV | Financials |
| 15 | Telefonica SA | Telecommunication Services |
| 16 | LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE | Consumer Discretionary |
| 17 | L'Oreal SA | Consumer Staples |
| 18 | AXA SA | Financials |
| 19 | Danone SA | Consumer Staples |
| 20 | VINCI SA | Industrials |
| 21 | Schneider Electric SE | Industrials |
| 22 | ASML Holding NV | Information Technology |
| 23 | Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. | Financials |
| 24 | Industria de Diseno Textil S.A. | Consumer Discretionary |
| 25 | Iberdrola SA | Utilities |
| 26 | Air Liquide SA | Materials |
| 27 | Eni S.p.A. | Energy |
| 28 | Enel SpA | Utilities |
| 29 | Airbus Group SE | Industrials |
| 30 | adidas AG | Consumer Discretionary |
| 31 | Nokia Oyj | Information Technology |
| 32 | Intesa Sanpaolo S.p.A. | Financials |
| 33 | Fresenius SE & Co. KGaA | Health Care |
| 34 | Munich Reinsurance Company | Financials |
| 35 | Orange SA | Telecommunication Services |
| 36 | Royal Ahold Delhaize N.V. | Consumer Staples |
| 37 | Deutsche Post AG | Industrials |
| 38 | Societe Generale S.A. Class A | Financials |
| 39 | Essilor International SA | Health Care |
| 40 | Royal Philips NV | Industrials |
| 41 | CRH Plc | Materials |
| 42 | Bayerische Motoren Werke AG | Consumer Discretionary |
| 43 | Unibail-Rodamco SE | Real Estate |
| 44 | Safran SA | Industrials |
| 45 | ENGIE SA | Utilities |
| 46 | Volkswagen AG Pref | Consumer Discretionary |
| 47 | Compagnie de Saint-Gobain SA | Industrials |
| 48 | Vivendi SA | Consumer Discretionary |
| 49 | Deutsche Bank AG | Financials |
| 50 | E.ON SE | Utilities |
| 51 | STT INSTL LIQUID RESERVES STIF USD | Unassigned |
| 52 | AIR LIQUIDE SA RIGHT | Unassigned |
| 53 | Euro | Unassigned |
| 54 | Aperam SA | Materials |
| 55 | U.S. Dollar | Unassigned |
Source: SPDR
Another way investors can access these European blue chips is to invest in the stocks of these firms individually. With this approach investors can pick and choose the sectors or companies that they want to focus on and avoid the ones they don’t want.
Disclosure: Long Banco Santander SA (SAN), Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A (BBVA) , E.ON SE (EONGY), AXA Group (AXAHY) and ING Groep N.V. (ING)
