14 Non-U.S Companies from the NASDAQ 100 Index

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Many foreign companies are listed in the NASDAQ market. A few of them are part of the NASDAQ 100 Index which is the main index of this market.

Definition of NASDAQ-100 Index from Wikipedia:

“The NASDAQ-100 is a stock market index of 100 of the largest domestic and international non-financial companies listed on the NASDAQ. It is a modified market value-weighted index. The companies’ weights in the index are based on their market capitalizations, with certain rules capping the influence of the largest components. It does not contain financial companies, and includes companies incorporated outside the United States. Both of those factors differentiate it from the Dow Jones Industrial Average, and the exclusion of financial companies distinguishes it from the S&P; 500 Index.”

The 14 foreign incorporated companies included in the NASDAQ 100 are:

  • Bermuda – Marvell Technology Group (MRVL)
  • Canada – Research In Motion (RIMM)
  • Cayman Islands – Garmin Ltd.(GRMN) and Seagate Technology (STX)
  • China – Baidu (BIDU)
  • India – Infosys (INFY)
  • Ireland – Ryanair (RYAAY) and Warner Chilcott (WCRX)
  • Israel – Check Point (CHKP) and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Ltd. (TEVA)
  • Luxembourg – Millicom International Cellular (MICC)
  • Singapore – Flextronics (FLEX)
  • Switzerland – Foster Wheeler (FWLT) and Logitech (LOGI)

A brief intro on some of the companies:

RIMM is the Canadian company that makes the famous Blackberry wireless handheld devices. Baidu is a search engine company and is called the “Google of China”. Infosys is one of the top IT outsourcers in India. Ireland-based Ryan Air operates cheap discount flights in Europe competing against other discount carries such as EasyJet. Teva is a generic drugs maker based in Israel. Security software maker Checkpoint used to be a hi-flier during the dot com era.

The 10 Most Valuable U.S. Retail Brands

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The list of 50 Most Valuable U.S. Retail Brands was published by Interbrand earlier this year. The Top 10 of these brands are listed below:

[TABLE=249]

Brand valuation methodology:

“All contenders for the list must qualify as follows: the brand must be a market-facing
brand, with publicly available financial data, and positive Economic Value Added
(EVA). Interbrand determines brand value the same way analysts value other assets:
on the basis of how much they’re likely to earn in the future.”

The Top 3 brands are Wal-Mart (WMT),  Best Buy (BBY) and Home Depot (HD).  WalMart’s Sam’s Club unit is the 10th most valuable brand in the country.

Invest in Europe’s Largest Companies via ETFs

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The SPDR DJ Euro Stoxx 50 ETF (FEZ) and SPDR DJ Stoxx 50 ETF (FEU) offer exposure to some of the largest companies in Europe. FEZ is the largest of the two funds with an asset base of $166M.

1.The SPDR DJ Euro Stoxx 50 ETF (FEZ)
FEZ tracks the performance of the Dow Jones Euro Stoxx 50 index. This index represents 50 blue-chip companies in the Eurozone which excludes the UK. As of October close, the fund is up 19.10%. Financials comprise about 31% of the portfolio. Some of the top 10 holdings include Eni (E), BNP Paribas (OTC: BNPQY), Total(TOT) and BBVA (BBV).

2. The SPDR DJ Stoxx 50 ETF (FEU)
This ETF tries to replicate the performance of the Dow Jones Stoxx 50 index index. The UK is included in this index. The total assets in this ETF is $56M which is much lower than that of the Euro Stoxx 50 ETF – FEZ. The expense ratio is 0.29% and the dividend yield is 5.05% . The financial sector accounts for 28% of the fund. In addition to the Euro Zone companies, FEZ includes top British companies such as GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), Vodafone (VOD), BP (BP) and HSBC Holdings (HBC).

As investors have correctly identified with pouring more assets into FEZ, the Euro Stoxx ETF is a better option than Stoxx ETF since FEZ excludes the UK. As the British economy is suffering much more than than the countries of Continental Europe, it is likely that UK will lag in economic recovery. Already the export-oriented German economy is picking up and the unemployment level has been decreasing for the past four months. Italy, Spain and France have also held up strong during the recent global financial crisis.

The Top 25 Brazilian Companies based on Sales

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The Brazilian market index Bovespa is one of the top performing emerging market indices this year. The index is up 142% in dollar terms since the start of this year. Gains are amplified in dollar terms since the local currency Real has appreciated by over 26% this year.

The world’s five largest companies by 2008 revenues are Royal Dutch Shell(RDS.A, RDS.B), Exxon Mobil (XOM) , Wal-Mart (WMT), BP (BP) and Toyota (TM) according to Forbes. The oil giant Royal Dutch Shell’s revenue totaled $458B while ExxonMobil raked in $425B. The world’s largest retailer Wal-Mart had total sales of $405B. Revenue matters since with high volumes companies can make billions even with a low profit margin. For example, though Wal-Mart’s sales exceeds $400B its profit margin is just 3.3%. This translates to a cool $13.4B in profits. Despite the low-profit margin, Wal-Mart is one of the top companies in the world and the stock is owned by millions of investors.

One way to reduce the risk of investing in emerging market equities is to go with the largest companies by sales or profit margin. The 25 Largest Brazilian Companies by Sales in 2008 are listed in the table below:

[TABLE=246]

Source: Exame

Petrobras and Br Distribuidora are the only state-owned companies in the above list. The oil giant Petrobras (PBR) had total revenues of $92B in 2008 and a total profit of $14B. This placed the company in the 25th rank just below StatoilHydro(STO) of Norway in the Forbes Global 2000 list. Brazil has 12.6 billion barrels of proven oil reserves, the second-largest in South America after Venezuela according to a report in the Oil and Gas Journal (OGJ). Since Petrobras controls most of the oil production in Brazil, Petrobras holds a strong potential for future growth. Some of the other Brazilian companies in the list include mining giant Vale (VALE) and Braskem (BAK).

An interesting takeway from the rankings is that 15 of the largest 25 companies in Brazil are foreign-owned. Automakers Volkswagen, Fiat, Mercedes, GM(GM) and Ford (F) have a strong presence in Brazil with sales exceeding $6B each in 2008. In addition to GM and Ford, American companies Wal-Mart and Cargill also have strong sales in Brazil. The French retailer Carrefour is well ahead of Wal-Mart in market share and sales.

Knowledge is Power: Debt, Peak Oil, Asia FDI Edition

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Investment into—and out of—Asia bucked the global trend over the past year as China and India continue to power the region’s economic progress. Features: Asia Goes Abroad

FDi-Asia

The Debt Economy – by James Surowiecki

John Kenneth Galbraith wrote that all financial crises are the result of “debt that, in one fashion or another, has become dangerously out of scale.” The recent financial crisis was no exception, with everyone—homeowners, private-equity investors, our biggest banks—taking on enormous amounts of debt. (Excellent Article)

Related: Corporate Tax Breaks Get Scrutiny

Volcker-Led Panel Considers Whether to Curb Bias Toward Issuing Debt Over Stock

US-Foreign-Tax-Comparison

Brash and flash, Dubai has become a monument to vanity and greed. But now it is sinking under £48bn debts – leaving Britons who’ve settled there facing ruin, writes Jane Fryer. Thousands of Britons in Dubai facing ruin

Crude is still being discovered; existing fields are not being exploited to the full. So it’s hard to predict the exact point at which the world’s dwindling reserves will precipitate a crisis. But it’s coming. Peak oil: the summit that dominates the horizon

Until the debt clouds disappear in the economy, small business can’t lead a rebound.Get Ready for Half a Recovery