The S&P ADR Index is composed of foreign securities that can be traded in the US. It comprises of 188 companies from 24 countries. One of the sector represented in this index is Industrials. In this post, lets review five of the ten industrial stocks that are part of the index.

1.ABB Ltd (ABB) is a Switzerland-based company that provides automation technologies to utility and other industrial customers. The current dividend yield is 2.89% and the P/E is 9.12. ABB is one of the highly profitable companies in its industry with a net margin of 12.76%.

2.The German company is Siemens AG (SI) engaged in electrical and electronics engineering. SI pays a dividend of 3.87% and the P/E ratio is 9.23. The average annual dividend growth is about 10% over the past 5 years.

3. Empresa Brasileira de Aeronautica SA (Embraer) (ERJ) is an aircraft maker in Brazil. The stock is down over 58% in the last 52 weeks. The current yield is 6.89%.

4. Kubota Corporation (KUB) is a Japanese iron and steel maker. Total revenue last year was about $11B. KUB does not pay dividends and the company’s earnings are in-line with peers in the industry.

5. UK-based Tomkins plc(TKS) is a manufacturer of Industrial & Automotive and Building Products. TKS has a dividend yield of 11.39% and the P/E is 10.81. Over the past 12 months TKS paid more dividends to investors than earnings. This may not be sustainable.

Many stocks have fallen over 50% year to date in this bear market.There are not that many foreign ADR stocks that are up so far this year.The following are eight ADR stocks that are in the positive column year-to-date. Four of them trade on the NYSE and the rest in the NASDAQ. Some of these stocks may not be good investment candidates. This list can be used as a starting point for further detailed research.

Stocks that are UP year-to-date (as of Oct 19,2008):

1.Company Name: VisionChina Media
Ticker: VISN
Country: China
Year-To-Date Change : 46.71%

2.Company Name: Epcos
Ticker: EPC
Country: Germany
Year-To-Date Change :35.92%

3.Company Name: ILOG
Ticker: ILOG
Country: France
Year-To-Date Change :24.02%

4.Company Name: Soc. Quimica y Minera de Chile
Ticker: SQM
Country: Chile
Year-To-Date Change :22.74%

5.Company Name: Netease.com
Ticker: NTES
Country: China
Year-To-Date Change :19.41%

6.Company Name: Endesa-Empresa Nacional de Electricidad
Ticker: EOC
Country: Chile
Year-To-Date Change :8.20%

7.Company Name: ICON
Ticker: ICLR
Country: Ireland
Year-To-Date Change :4.88%

8.Company Name: Telefonos de Mexico
Ticker: TMX
Country: Mexico
Year-To-Date Change :3.32%

It is interesting to see none of the above stocks are widely known or bank stocks.

Stocks that pay dividends are always better than the ones that don’t pay.Its true that dividends are not guaranteed and that they can be reduced or canceled at any time. Companies like Washington Mutual(WU), National City(NCC), Bank of America(BAC) are some recent examples.However in the long run, dividends form a significant part of a stock’s total return (Total Return = Dividend Return+ Stock Price Appreciation).

One of the ways of identifying is to select stocks from the Dividend Aristocrats Indices published by S&P.; The S&P; Europe 350 Dividend Aristocrats Index contains “large cap, blue chip companies within the S&P; Europe 350 that have followed a policy of consistently increasing dividends every year for at least 10 consecutive years.” Three stocks from this index is listed below:

1. NOVO NORDISK A S (NVO) is a Denmark-based health care company specializing in the care of diabetes. The current yield is 1.90% and the P/E is 22.16. NOV had a total revenue of $7.8B last year and the stock has a 5-star rating by S&P.; Dividends have increased at about 20% annually over the past 5 years.

2.Basel,Switzerland based Novartis AG (NVS) is a drug company manufacturing a variey of medicines.NVS has been almost flat over the past 52 weeks.Earnings growth in the past 5 years is 12.5%. NVS pays a dividend of 3.02% and it has a market cap of $119B with 2.3B shares outstanding.

3.SANOFI-AVENTIS SA(SNY) is a Biotechs and Drugs firm in France. SNY has a dividend yield of 5.55%. It markets Ambien CR, the famous drug for insomnia. SNY has fallen about 32% in 52-weeks. Dividends has increased at an annual rate of 26% over the last 5 years.