Which French Companies Are Global Multinationals?

The 32 largest French firms appearing in the Fortune Global 500 List for 2012 are listed below. These firms were ranked based on revenues. These companies can be considered as France’s multinational giants.

 

 

Source: Fortune Global 500, Fortune

Carrefour SA (CRRFY) is one of the world’s largest retailers. It is bigger than US giant Walmart(WMT) in Latin America. Lafarge (LFRGY) is one of the world’s largest cement makers. SNCF is the state-owned railway company. Saint-Gobain is a world leader in glass, and construction and high-performance materials.

Related ETFs:

iShares MSCI France Index (EWQ)

Disclosure: None of the stocks mentioned above.

Ten Brazilian Stocks To Consider

Emerging markets have been laggards this year. Among the BRICs Brazilian stocks have also not fared well either due to state intervention in businesses and sluggish economic growth in the past few years.

From an article in the Financial Times yesterday:

Gross domestic product grew less than 1 per cent last year, the lowest of the Brics club of emerging nations. Investors are shunning Brazil in preference for Mexico, something unthinkable only two years ago. Although she is still immensely popular, the economy is a potential cloud over Ms Rousseff’s re-election prospects next year.

Her government’s response has been to wade into sectors ranging from energy to telecommunications with a mixture of carrot and stick, from tax incentives to measures forcing producers to cut prices. Yet rising government involvement in business is proving divisive. On one side, those in banking and the financial markets argue that Brazil is reverting to interventionist ways that were found want­ing in the past. The industrial sector counters that manufacturing will sink under high costs and rising imports unless help is forthcoming.

The one point of consensus seems to be that the past decade of external tailwinds, provided by robust commodity prices and generous foreign fund inflows from loose monetary policy in developed markets, is over. Brazil needs to fuel its internal engines of growth, particularly investment.

Source: Brazil: Humbled heavyweight, FT

Until a few years ago the Brazil used to the hottest emerging market destination for international investors. That attraction has waned as the new government under Ms.Rousseff implemented many populist reforms. Despite the current issues investors willing to wait for a few years can consider Brazilian stocks for long-term investment.

Ten Brazilian stocks with their current dividend yields are listed below for further research:

1.Company: Itau Unibanco Holding SA (ITUB)
Current Dividend Yield: 2.00%
Sector: Banking

2.Company: SABESP (SBS)
Current Dividend Yield: N/A
Sector: Water Utilities

3.Company: Banco Bradesco SA (BBD)
Current Dividend Yield: 3.50%
Sector: Banking

4.Company: Gerdau SA (GGB)
Current Dividend Yield: 1.57%
Sector: Metals & Mining

5.Company: Vale SA (VALE)
Current Dividend Yield: 5.70%
Sector: Metals & Mining

6.Company: Embraer SA (ERJ)
Current Dividend Yield: N/A
Sector: Aerospace & Defense

7.Company: Braskem SA (BAK)
Current Dividend Yield: 4.35%
Sector: Chemicals

8.Company: Ultrapar Participacoes SA (UGP)
Current Dividend Yield:
Sector: Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels

9.Company: Companhia Brasileira de Distribuicao (CBD)
Current Dividend Yield: 0.69%
Sector: Food & Staples Retailing

10.Company: CPFL Energia SA (CPL)
Current Dividend Yield: 7.34%
Sector: Electric Utilities

Note: Dividend yields noted are as of Mar 25, 2013. Dividend yields are not known to be accurate from sources used. Please do your own due diligence before making any investment decisions

Disclosure: Long BBD and ITUB

The Eight Largest Spanish Companies By Revenue 2012

The Spanish firms appearing in the Fortune Global 500 list are shown below:

 

 

Source: Fortune Global 500, Fortune

Despite all the troubles in recent years banking groups Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria(BBVA) and Banco Santander(SAN) are still large enough to make it to this global ranking.

Related ETFs:

iShares MSCI Spain Capped Index (EWP)

The complete list of Spanish ADRs can  be found here.

Disclosure: Long BBVA, SAN

The 7 Largest Russian Companies By Revenue 2012

Russia is a natural resourced based economy. Oil and natural gas especially are the two key industries. Hence firms from the energy industry dominate the top firms listed below. These 7 companies appear in the Fortune Global 500 list for 2012.

 

Source: Fortune Global 500, Fortune

None of the Russian energy giants trade on the US exchanges. The four firms trading on the OTC exchanges are:

Gazprom(OGZPY), LUKOIL (LUKOY), Rosneft Oil Company (OJSCY) and Surgutneftegas (SGTPY).

Related ETFs:

Market Vectors Russia ETF (RSX)

Disclosure: No Positions

On The Gold and Silver Price Super-Cycles

Commodity prices including those of precious metals tend to go through super-cycles. Booms and busts occur as a result of these cycles. These cycles last for many years.

In the latest super-cycle gold prices have climbed consistently in the last decade up until 2011 when prices reached a peak of just over $1,900.00. Since then prices have been volatile. On Friday it closed at $1,609.20  in New York.

10-year gold price chart:

Click to enlarge

10-Year-Gold-Price-Chart

Source: Kitco

The following chart shows real gold and silver prices from 1850 to 2012:

Gold-Silver-Real-Prices-1850-to-2012

The tables below shows the dates of super-cycles and dates of booms and busts:

Gold-Silver-SuperCycle-Dates

Gold-Silver-Boom-Busts-Dates

It is interesting to note the boom and bust lengths for these two precious metals. During the depression of the 1930s gold had one of the long boom periods. The recent long boom lasted 6 years from 1977 thru  1983.

Source:

FROM BOOM TO BUST: A TYPOLOGY OF REAL COMMODITY PRICES IN THE LONG RUN

by David S Jacks, Department of Economics, Simon Fraser University, Canada

NBER Working Paper No. 18874, March 2013

Related ETFs:

  • SPDR Gold Shares (GLD)
  • iShares Silver Trust (SLV)

Disclosure: No Positions