Top 10 International Stocks

Stock	Market Cap	Price	Yield	Profile	Pros	Cons
Matsushita Electric Industries (MC)	43B	20.31	1.49	Japanese manufacturer of the electronic products with leading brands like Panasonic, National, Technics, Quasar, and JVC.	Panasonic has very good brand recognition although it is a notch below Sony.	Margins are low. The multi-brand strategy is not bringing in the results expected.
ABB Limited (ABB)	63.5B	29.13	0.67	Swiss conglomerate of power and automation technologies. Its Combustion Engineering Unit almost brought the whole company down following the asbestos related litigation.	Proxy for global infrastructure growth.	Emerging markets should drive growth but execution risks are a concern.
GOL Linhas Aereas Inteligentes (GOL)	5.12B	25.31	0.42	Brazilian regional airline with a low cost business model	Proxy for growth of Brazil	VRG acquisition poses risks as the airline expands more into the international routes.
Posco (PKX)	57.87B	154.25	0.88	Korean integrated steel producer. Buffet recently has built up a significant stake in the company.	The global demand surge for steel has resulted in the company growing rapidly and the stock price rising five fold over the last five years. Even then, the stock still trades at a forward-PE of just 10.	Posco is not immune to the cyclical nature of this commodity business.
Cognizant Technology (CTSH)	10.14B	34.92	None	Global software outsourcer for verticals focused in different sectors as Financial Services, Health Care, Manufacturing, Retail, and Logistics	It trades at a forward PE of about 22. Growth is expected to be well above that and so the valuation is attractive	Realizing high growth rates going forward will be challenging.
New Zealand Telecom (NZT)	6.14B	16.86	6.51	Telecommunications and IT services in New Zealand and Australia. This is one of the few ways for a US investor to invest in New Zealand.	Uncertainties regarding the impact of New Zealand’s regulatory policy along with concerns about the country’s monetary policy have caused the share price and yield to dip to a very attractive level.	The country is still in the early stages of opening up the telecom industry to competition and the company will feel the impact of regulatory pressures eventually. Australian operations will continue to under perform, as it is a relatively small operation in a highly competitive environment.
Trina Solar (TSL)	1.40B	55.22	None	Chinese manufacturer of polysilicon based solar modules. The company has a vertically integrated business model. Please see our article that compares such solar players.	Shares are down about 30% after a mildly disappointing earnings report and uncertainties about near-term polysilicon procurement making the valuation attractive.	The Company has announced plans to manufacture polysilicon. This is capital intensive and has its associated near-term risks.
Elan Corporation (ELN)	10.15B	21.72	None	Irish pharmaceutical company focused on Central Nervous System (CNS) treatments.	Tsyabri, a multiple sclerosis drug, developed and marketed with Biogen-Idec should drive growth near term. There is also a drug for Alzheimer’s and other CNS drugs in the pipeline.	The company’s shares are very volatile, it is trading at a 3-year high, with the valuation factoring in a lot of the expected growth.
Canadian National Railway (CNI)	23.53B	47.59	1.79	Canadian railroad with about 30% route miles in the US and the remaining in Canada.	This is best as a core defensive holding. Volumes should improve as a new terminal comes online at Prince Rupert.	Strong Canadian dollar is not in the company’s favor as part of the revenue is in US dollars. Additionally, the company has exposure to US housing downturn as demand for forestry products get reduced.
Creative Technology (CREAF)	355.41M	4.25	None	Singapore based manufacturer of audio/video consumer electronic products including mp3 players, speaker systems, webcams, soundcards, etc.	Attractive valuation.	Management’s conservative stance has cost the company dearly and allowed Apple to gain in all aspects in the audio/video player market, despite the fact that Creative had a head start of about 2 years in the late 90’s.