The Best And Worst ADRs To Buy This Week

Every week, we screen our universe of widely traded ADRs across key technical, fundamental and seasonality hurdles. For a decade, we've been running these scores to help our institutional manager clients find the best - and worst - names for the coming year.

The following table breaks out the top-scoring ADRs across all regions and countries. The higher the score, the more likely buying now will produce upside over the next year.

Best ADRs					8/13/2012	Score
Company Name	Symbol	Sector	REGION	COUNTRY	SCORE	4 Week Ma
B C E Inc.	BCE	TELCO SERVICES	Canada/Mexico	Canada	90	76.25
Focus Media	FMCN	SERVICES	North Asia	China	90	67.5
HDFC Bank	HDB	FINANCIALS	South Asia	India	90	87.5
ICON	ICLR	SERVICES	United Kingdom & Ireland	Ireland	85	87.5
KongZhong	KONG	CONGLOMERATES	North Asia	China	85	81.25
Grupo Aeroportuario del Centro Norte	OMAB	SERVICES	Latin America	México	85	83.75
Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri	TKC	TECHNOLOGY	Middle East/N. Africa/the Gulf	Turkey	85	86.25
EnCana Corp	ECA	BASIC MATERIALS	Canada/Mexico	Canada	80	73.75
Gentium	GENT	HEALTHCARE	Continental Europe	Italy	80	82.5
Mahanagar Telephone Nigam	MTE	TECHNOLOGY	South Asia	India	80	78.75
Tenaris	TS	BASIC MATERIALS	Latin America	Argentina	80	78.75
Bank of Montreal	BMO	FINANCIALS	Canada/Mexico	Canada	75	75
British Sky Broadcasting	BSYBY.PK	SERVICES	United Kingdom & Ireland	United Kingdom	75	65
Companhia Energetica de Minas Gerais-CEMIG	CIG	UTILITIES	Latin America	Brazil	75	72.5
Diageo	DEO	CONSUMER GOODS	United Kingdom & Ireland	United Kingdom	75	77.5
KT	KT	TECHNOLOGY	North Asia	Korea	75	60
Mindray Medical International	MR	HEALTHCARE	North Asia	China	75	52.5
Prudential	PUK	FINANCIALS	United Kingdom & Ireland	United Kingdom	75	72.5
SK Telecom	SKM	TECHNOLOGY	North Asia	Korea	75	67.5
Sanofi	SNY	HEALTHCARE	Continental Europe	France	75	72.5
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries	TEVA	HEALTHCARE	Middle East/N. Africa/the Gulf	Israel	75	71.25
Vodafone Group	VOD	TECHNOLOGY	United Kingdom & Ireland	United Kingdom	75	66.25

The next table shows the worst scoring ADRs. These are troubled ships, with poor earnings, valuation, technicals and/or seasonal headwinds.

Worst ADRs					8/13/2012	Score
Company Name	Symbol	Sector	REGION	COUNTRY	SCORE	4 Week Ma
Bank of Ireland	IRE	FINANCIALS	United Kingdom & Ireland	Ireland	10	16.25
Canon	CAJ	CONSUMER GOODS	North Asia	Japan	15	23.75
Flamel Technologies	FLML	HEALTHCARE	Continental Europe	France	15	25
China Finance Online	JRJC	SERVICES	North Asia	China	15	16.25
Nortel Invesora - Series B	NTL	TECHNOLOGY	Latin America	Argentina	15	22.5
Rediff.com India	REDF	TECHNOLOGY	South Asia	India	15	16.25
SIFY	SIFY	TECHNOLOGY	South Asia	India	15	20

Breaking the scores out by sector helps you see which baskets should be demanding most of your attention long or short. Healthcare and services score above the ADR universe average. Financials and basics score inline. Technology, industrials, utilities and consumer score below average, suggesting more patience is necessary in those low scoring groups.

Sector	Avg. Score
Healthcare	49.40
Services	46.35
Financials	44.78
Basic Materials	44.34
Technology	43.35
Industrial Goods	43.13
Utilities	43.08
Consumer Goods	41.67

Finally, it's also helpful to aggregate the individual scores across regions and countries. This next table ranks each of the regions descending, adding some insight into where overseas investors are best served taking on risk.

(click to enlarge)

Using a systematic scoring system can help keep you focused while doing a good share of the heavy lifting in sorting hundreds of choices into a more actionable idea list. Given the current scores, your best bet is to focus stock-by-stock in defensive groups, specifically those in North America. For those more interested in Europe, the United Kingdom is strongest.

Source: The Best And Worst ADRs To Buy This Week

Disclosure: I have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours.