The 10 Most Traded European ADRs

Of the hundreds of European stocks that are listed on US exchanges, some stocks are traded heavily on a daily basis. The following are the ten European ADRs that have the most daily trading volume as of Monday:

• Nokia - NOK
• Alcatel-Lucent - ALU
• Vimpel Communications - VIP
• Banco Santander S.A - STD
• Mechel Steel - MTL
• Ericsson - ERIC
• ArcelorMittal - MT
• ABB
• Unilever - UN
• ASML

All the above stocks have daily volumes of over 3 million shares. Nokia (NOK) has the highest daily volume at about 50 million. The Finland-based maker of mobile phones is one of the world's most respected brands. Nokia makes cheap, quality phones for the emerging markets and is highly successful at marketing its phones in those markets. The stock is down about 17% YTD and it pays a 4.08% dividend. It is a long-term value play since it has an incredible brand and the company is very innovative compared to other mobile phone makers like Motorola (MOT), Samsung, etc. Ericsson (ERIC) of Sweden is a much smaller company compared to Nokia and does not have a huge market share in the cell phone manufacturing industry.

Alcatel-Lucent (ALU) was formed by the merger of Alcatel of France and Lucent of the U.S. These two companies used to be hi-fliers during the dot com era. After the end of the dot com boom, the merged company still survives but hardly is an investor favorite. The Netherlands-based ASML Holding NV (ASML) is a semiconductor company which survived the tech crash and continues to operate independently.

Vimpel Communications (VIP) is a large Russian mobile operator with operations in Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Armenia, Tajikistan and Georgia as well as in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the Kingdom of Cambodia. After a strong run, Vimpel fell hard last year when the Russian market collapsed. From its lows, the stock has doubled to nearly $13. Vimpel is a high beta stock. The company still has room to grow due to its presence in the emerging markets of Central Asia.

Among the other companies listed above, Swiss-based ABB is a world leader in industrial automation technologies. ABB looks cheap at current levels since the company has strong potential to grow its business in emerging markets such as China, Brazil, India, etc. Developing countries need many of the technologies that ABB can offer such as making their electric grids smarter.

Spanish banking giant Banco Santander, S.A. (STD) has a 5.89% yield and has presence in many countries of the world. It is especially a major player in the Latin American banking market. The stock is up about 39% but still well off its 52-week highs. Santander is in a much stronger position than its peers due to its prudent management. Though the company has high exposure to the real estate market in Spain, Santander's Latin American operations offer it a cushion against losses in its domestic market.

Disclosure: Long ABB, STD

Comments

[swaps:]

During the meltdown last year UN really held up well, though it has not rebounded as much as a few other holdings I have like GG, KGC and JEF.
UN is definitely a core holding, but I really need to compare with its companion stock UL to see which ekes out the better total return and dividend yield due to differing tax treatments in the Netherlands and England.

Jul 21 02:47 PM

[Alan Young:]

Good article: a very simple concept, but one I've never looked into before.

Jul 21 03:21 PM