Three Ways to Invest in Germany

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Germany is the best place to invest capital in Europe.The site Invest In Germany provides the following ten reasons to choose Germany:

1.The German Economy is the largest in Europe and the 3rd largest in the world.

2.Germany was the number exporter in 2007.

3.Has one of the productivity rates in the world.

4.Has an excellent workforce with a 84%of population trained to university level education.

5.Germany is Europe’s #1 country for Innovation.Spends EUR 5B each year on research.

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6. Has World-Class infrastructure and is the #1 logistics market in Europe.

7.Attracts high Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) with many incentives.

8. Has reduced corporate tax levels.

9.Highly developed legal system and institutions.

10.Offers Excellent quality of life.

Given the above reasons, the German stock market has fallen significantly in recent months. However for long-term investors excellent companies are now trading at cheap prices. There many ways to invest in Germany. The easiest ways are via 2 ETFs and a Closed-End Fund.

1. iShares MSCI Germany Index (EWG) has total assets $601M and an yield of 7.07%. Year-to-Date EWG is down about 30%.

2.NETS DAX Index (DAX) is a tiny ETF with just $4M in assets. “The fund uses a representative sampling strategy in seeking to track DAX index, which consists of the 30 largest and most actively traded companies listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.”

3. The New Germany Fund Inc. (GF) is a closed-end fund with $180M in assets and a yield of 1.63%.

If you are interested in individual stocks, go to Germany ADR Stocks List !! .

Single-Digit Foreign Dividend Stocks

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Many of the foreign bank ADRs are now trading under $10. Listed below are twelve such stocks.While some of them have great yields, it is not guaranteed and may be reduced or canceled anytime.

Note: Stock prices listed here are as of Oct 28,2008 (Tuesday).

1.Allied Irish Banks Plc(AIB) = $8.35

2.The Governor and Company of The Bank of Ireland (IRE) = $7.25

3. Banco Itau(ITU)=$8.89

4.Banco Macro SA(BMA) = $6.93

5.BVA Banco Frances S.A(BFR)= $2.07

6.National Bank of Greece(NBG) = $3.51

7.Banco Santander SA(STD) = $9.24

8.Royal Bank of Scotland Group Pl c(RBS) = $0.98

9.Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBV) = $9.80

10.Danske Bank (DNSKY) = $7.35

11.Societe Generale (SCGLY) = $9.05

12.ING Groep NV (ING) = $7.81

Five Stocks You Might Like To Pickup

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By any measure this is a tough market for both bulls and bears.While the fundamentals have not improved, today the Dow Jones Index was up a whopping 10.88%. No body knows why the market is so volatile these days. All we can do is look for cheap stocks and add a little to the portfolio when possible and ride out the storm.

Many foreign stocks are cheap at current levels. If an investor has a long-term investment horizon of 5 years or more there are plenty of bargains in this market. Some of them offer excellent yields and are great companies with solid business models. The following are five companies looking attractive at current levels.

1.Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd (CP) is the second largest railroad in Canada and one of the top Class I railroads in North America. CP is down about 50% in the last 52 weeks. The stock has a dividend of 2.69% and the P/E is just 7.48. Today CP announced good Q3 results and reaffirmed the guidance for FY08 EPS.

(Source: Canadian Pacific announces third-quarter results)

CP covers the western provinces of Canada. Until recently CP performed better than its competitor Canadian National (CN). Even if the economy gets worse in the US and Canada, CP will continue to earn decent profits since it transports good like grains, food products, crude oil from the Alberta tar sands,etc.

2.Telecomunicacoes de Sao Paulo S/A-Telesp (TSP) is a fixed-line telecom operator in the State of Sao Pualo in Brazil. About 80% of its customers are residential customers. Telephone is a basic necessity in any country and Brazil is no exception.Most people continue to pay their bill on time. In this angle, TSP is a good bet among Brazilian stocks. TSP pays a 4.99% dividend and has raised the dividend at an annual rate of 25.25% in the past 5 years.

3 .As one of the large oil giants in the world, Petrobras (PBR) of Brazil is a well-run firm with many production platforms. It operates in Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Portugal, the United States, Peru and Turkey, among others. PBR has been unfairly hit in recent months since it is an emerging market play. However I consider this to be a good buying opportunity. Stories like political risk and currency risk are over exaggerated. It is highly unlikely that Brazil will turn into a communist country anytime in the near future. PBR has increase dividend 23% annually and the P/E ratio is 5.69. From a high of $77+ the stock fell to under $20 yesterday and recovered to $22+ today.

4.Eni Spa (E) is a Italy-based integrated oil and gas company. Currently it yields a juicy 9.67% dividend and the stock is down about 49% in the past 52 weeks.Revenue has grown at 21% annually.

5.One of the large banks in Chile is Banco De Chile(BCH). It has branches in New York and Miami in the USA. BCH is down over 52% in the last 52 weeks. BCH pays a dividend of 19.11% . As the second largest emerging market in Latin America next to Brazil, Chilean stocks have been crushed in recent weeks due to fall in commodity prices like copper and the change in investors perception of emerging markets.

Note: Do your own research before making any investment decisions.

Five Stocks You Might Like To Pickup

Australian ADRs offer Awesome Dividends Now

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The Australian Stock Market Index,”ALL ORDINARIES INDEX” has crashed in the past few weeks in-line with other markets of the world. Year-to-date “Bank of New York Mellon Australia ADR Index”, which tracks the Australian ADRs listed in the US, is down 54.94%.

1-Year Chart of Australian All Ordinaries Index

On the currency front, the Aussie Dollar has fallen a whopping 37% against the US $ since reaching a peak of $0.9849 to the US$ about 3 months ago.London’s Financial Times calls the Australian Dollar the “whipping boy” of foreign exchange markets (Source:World gives Aussie dollar a walloping).

From a article titled “When will the Australian sharemarket recover?” by Nicolette Rubinsztein, here is a table of the major downturns in Australia since 1987:

Against the backdrop of all the above events,US investors are wondering whether now is the good time to pick up some Aussie stocks available here as ADRs. We do not know when the market will recover worldwide. Despite being a surplus country Australia got hit pretty bad just like all other countries in this credit crunch. However there are some high quality dividend yielding stocks that will survive this downturn and come back strong when the dust settles.

The following are six Australian stocks that have excellent dividend yields now. While its not a good idea to jump in with both feet into these stocks just for the dividends it must be noted that further erosion in stock prices is possible. An investor with a well diversified portfolio may want to monitor these stocks and add a little when desired.

Austrlian Stocks with Excellent Yields now (as of Oct 24,2008):

1. Alumina – AWC
Dividend Yield: 12.86%

2.BHP Billiton Ltd – BHP
Dividend Yield: 5.28%

3.SIMS Group Ltd – SMS
Dividend Yield: 9.95%

4.Westpac Banking Corp – WBK
Dividend Yield: 9.58%

5.National Australia Bank Ltd – NABZY
Dividend Yield: 12.69%

6.Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd – ANZBY
Dividend Yield: 11.60%

The last two are traded on the OTC markets.

Global Stocks under $10 and Dividend Yield >= 5%

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Many foreign stocks that have great dividend yields are now trading under $10. The following is a list of such stocks that meet the conditions:Stock Price (as of Oct 24,2008) : < $10
Dividend Yield: Greater than or Equal to 5.00%

Dividends may be cut or reduced at any time. However in this market dividend paying stocks are a safer bet than the ones that don’t pay dividends.

1. Ternium S.A. (ADR) – TX
Dividend Yield = 5.43%

2.Taiwan Semiconductor Mfg. Co. Ltd. (ADR) – TSM
Dividend Yield = 7.05%

3.Tomkins plc (ADR) – TKS
Dividend Yield = 12.83%

4.Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri A.S. (ADR) – TKC
Dividend Yield = 5.22%

5.Telefonica de Argentina SA (ADR) – TAR
Dividend Yield = 38.36%

6.Banco Santander, S.A. (ADR) – STD
Dividend Yield = 8.34%

7.Grupo Radio Centro SAB de CV (ADR) – RC
Dividend Yield = 8.10%

8.Portugal Telecom, SGPS (ADR) – PT
Dividend Yield = 13.71%

9.Hellenic Telecom Organization S.A. (ADR) – OTE
Dividend Yield = 8.75%

10.Korea Electric Power Corporation (ADR) – KEP
Dividend Yield = 6.36%