European Stocks

[Guest hellsten]

Europe is cheap compared to the US stock market, so it's probably a good idea to start a new thread where I hope we can discuss European stocks.

 

How do people here find good ideas in Europe? Any blogs or forums you subscribe to? Who do you coattail? What are your favorite stocks in Europe right now?

 

Coattailing US investors is easy, because there's a lot of value investors and information about US stocks. In Europe there is no Warren Buffett to coattail and all the information is in 24+ different languages. The best source of coattailing ideas is in my opinion Bestinver because they have a good track record and publish their holdings. Guy Spier is also a good source of information. Flinvest doesn't publish their holdings as far as I know.

 

Mechanical investing is what I'm looking at right now. I'm going through a list of European stocks a screener indicates are cheap.

 

I'm including the list here in case someone is interested:

Conduril - Engenharia, S.A. Portugal

Grupo Media Capital SGPS, S.A. Portugal

Ascopiave S.p.A. Italy

Esprinet S.p.A Italy

Acsm-Agam S.p.A. Italy

Plastika Kritis S.A. Greece

Engineering Ingegneria Informatica S.p.A. Italy

Sumol + Compal S.A. Portugal

Tesmec S.p.A. Italy

DADA S.p.A Italy

Ebro Foods S.A. Spain

Cofina SGPS, S.A. Portugal

La Doria SpA Italy

Plaisio Computers S.A. Greece

Adveo Group International, S.A. Spain

GR Sarantis SA Greece

Generale Mobiliare Interessenze Azionarie S.p.A. Italy

Enel S.p.A. Italy

Cementos Molins S.A. Spain

Sonaecom, SGPS, S.A. Portugal

De' Longhi S.p.A. Italy

Atlantia SpA Italy

Safilo Group S.p.A. Italy

Obrascon Huarte Lain SA Spain

Emak SpA Italy

 

Stocks are ranked based on criteria like earnings yield, ROIC, P/B and 5-year ROIC.

 

Conduril is known by many here as a value stock. It's interesting to see it at the top of the list even after a huge run up.

 

I went through the whole list and found quite a few interesting stocks.

 

Grupo Media Capital is cheap but can you even buy this stock?

 

GR Sarantis SA is owned by Fairfax.

 

Generale Mobiliare Interessenze Azionarie is really interesting:

"Generale Mobiliare Interessenze Azionarie SpA is an Italy-based investment holding company. The Company is primarily involved in the management of the concession for the creation and operation of two airports in the zone area of Rome in Italy: the Leonardo da Vinci Airport of Fiumicino and the G Pastine Airport of Ciampino. "

 

Enel SpA is boring and stable. One of GMO's bigger holdings in Europe:

"Enel SpA is an Italy-based company engaged in the utilities sectors. It produces, distributes and sells electricity and natural gas. It operates a range of hydroelectric, thermoelectric, nuclear, geothermal, wind-power, photovoltaic and biomass power stations."

 

Sonaecom I'm familiar with through Bestinver:

 

"Sonaecom SGPS SA is a Portugal-based holding company primarily engaged in the telecommunication industry"

 

Atlantia's is a toll-road operator and sounds like a good business:

"Atlantia S.p.A. (formerly Autostrade S.p.A.) is an Italian holding company whose primary asset is Autostrade per l'Italia, the largest concessionaire on the Italian autostrade network. Another subsidiary of Atlantia, Autostrade of Virginia, is a member of the consortium that operates the Dulles Greenway."

 

Analyst reports:

http://www.borsaitaliana.it/documenti/studi.htm?filename=94741.pdf

http://www.borsaitaliana.it/borsa/azioni/elenco-completo-studi-societari.html?isin=IT0003506190&lang=en&page=2

 

"Atlantia's largest single shareholder with around 38% of the company is Sintonia, an investment vehicle of the Benetton family."~Wikipedia

 

Another interesting company is Safilo Group. This company has also been featured on value investing blogs if I remember correctly:

"Safilo Group S.p.A. is an Italian company that designs, produces and distributes prescription frames, sunglasses, sports eyewear, ski goggles, ski and cycling helmets under its own five house brands and twenty two licensed brands."~Wikipedia

 

Most of these stocks are near 52-week highs…

[Lance]

Hi hellsten - nice post, thanks.  I've been looking at TEF - Telefonica S.A.

 

Thanks,

Lance

[frog03]

Flinvest does publish their top holdings monthly (thru email) but you need to be acknowledged as an ower to receive the mail.

 

Moneta Micro Entreprises has, as far I as know, the very best record of any mutual fund in Europe but is now closed.  They also disclose their top positions monthly as well.

[Guest ajc]

There are some good blogs out there as well.

 

I think two of the best are Wexboy Value (http://wexboy.wordpress.com/) mostly for English and Irish stocks, and Value And Opportunity (http://valueandopportunity.com/) which focuses more on continental Europe.

[augustabound]

There are some good blogs out there as well.

 

I think two of the best are Wexboy Value (http://wexboy.wordpress.com/) mostly for English and Irish stocks, and Value And Opportunity (http://valueandopportunity.com/) which focuses more on continental Europe.

 

Also Richard Beddard, The Share Sleuth

 

[constructive]

Some of the European companies on my watchlist include:

AFK Sistema SSA.L

Deutsche Balaton BBH.FRA

Altamir LTA.PAR

ABC Arbitrage ABCA.PAR

 

Sagicor SFI.L

Lancashire LRE.L

Aegon AEG

 

Akka Technologies AKKA.PAR

Docdata DOCD.AEX

 

Next Radio TV NXTV.PAR

Cairo Communications CAI.MIL

Gaumont GAM.PAR

Bahnhof BAHN B.STO

 

Lukoil LUKOY

Gazprom OGZD.L

TGS Nopec Geophysical TGS.OSL

Bonheur BON.OSL

 

Porsche POAHY

[newyorkminute]

Anyone knows a good European stock screener?

[SharperDingaan]

Look at the I, G, & S utilities for yield, & oil/drugs for growth  ;)

 

 

 

 

 

[txitxo]

  I also own Ascopiave, La Doria, Adveo, Sonaecom. I try to buy near 52-w highs too.

 

  If you think that the eurozone won't split apart, this is a secular opportunity to buy European stocks. I am pretty sure we will still have some hiccups along the way, but this is not a Japanese-like crisis as most people fear. For instance, in Japan the CAPE was over 80 at the peak of the Japanese bubble, and stayed over 20-something until recently. Only now is getting to reasonable valuations, around 16.

 

  That's why I started selling FFH after Merkel won the election again and I'm putting that money into Europe. We have what value investors look for: fear and cheap stocks.

 

 

 

[constructive]

Anyone knows a good European stock screener?

 

http://markets.ft.com/screener/customScreen.asp

[Guest hellsten]

  I also own Ascopiave, La Doria, Adveo, Sonaecom. I try to buy near 52-w highs too.

 

Interesting. txitxo, do you buy near 52-week highs because statistics has shown that it's best to buy value stocks then (i.e. momentum)? My first thought was to avoid the stocks that have gone up 100%+ in a year.

 

Also, do you filter the list the screener gives you based on your own criteria (e.g. quality), or do you invest in what the screener gives you?

[Hawks]

I continue to hold and like aeg (Aegon), phg (Philips) and ire (Bank of Ireland).

[peter buffet]

I recommend you the following :

 

Amiral Gestion in french:  http://www.amiralgestion.fr/Actualites/lettres.php

 

Ennismore in english with an interesting monthly letter!  http://www.ennismorefunds.com/documents/OEIC/OEIC%20-%20Most%20Recent%20NL.pdf

 

 

Les daubasses, in french also and you need to pay to see their move and their portfolio:  http://www.daubasses.com/

 

A new blog here in English:  http://wertartcapital.com/

 

 

Good search.  For your information, in my portfolio I have the following stocks in Europe:

 

Eni : Gaz

Resilux: Packaging

Saft: Battery

Credit Agricole, Banca Intesa: Bank

Dietereen: with a good franchise Belron who own Autoglass in the US for example.

cci ile et vilaine, atlantique vendee and languedoc:  regional bank of the group credit agricole.

Bijou Brigitte: retail jewelry fantasy.

 

 

 

[txitxo]

  I also own Ascopiave, La Doria, Adveo, Sonaecom. I try to buy near 52-w highs too.

 

Interesting. txitxo, do you buy near 52-week highs because statistics has shown that it's best to buy value stocks then (i.e. momentum)? My first thought was to avoid the stocks that have gone up 100%+ in a year.

 

Also, do you filter the list the screener gives you based on your own criteria (e.g. quality), or do you invest in what the screener gives you?

 

  I basically try to use criteria which improve performance in backtesting, and for which I understand the reason. I was very reluctant to add momentum to the value+quality mix, but it seems to work very well eliminating value traps. The best parameter I've found for momentum is the 52-w high. Note that does not tell you how much the stock went up in the last year, just that it is close to the maximum.  The rationale behind that parameter is that when something has had a bad press for a long time (as cheap stocks do) usually it pauses for a while, or even rebounds down a little when it breaks the previous 52-w high. I generate my own rankings from the screener output.

 

 

[indythinker85]

Anyone knows a good European stock screener?

 

http://markets.ft.com/screener/customScreen.asp

 

Thanks for this screener. I bought the Russian ETF in late 09 and again recently. Obviously Russia is tough country to invest in but I was looking at the screener and some names are absurdly cheap. Im thinking of a basket of stocks after I speak to some value guys there. Anyone else investing in Russia. Iv only seen a few write ups or sell side research on any specific names (besides Gazprom) http://contrarianedge.com/2013/10/11/germany-europe-and-mother-russia-excerpts-from-valuex-vail/ http://www.marketfolly.com/2013/09/harvey-sawikins-pitch-on-gazprom-neft.html http://www.valuewalk.com/2013/10/kerrisdale-capital-profits-herbalife-buys-russian-bank%E2%80%8F/

[steph]

Duro Felguera is an interesting spanish company to look at.

 

Aggreko Plc has lost 35% from its top. Still not deep value, but a wonderful company with big moat. Worldwide leader in its sector by far.

 

CIR (Bestinver is large shareholder) also still cheap.

[Guest hellsten]

Moneta Micro Entreprises has, as far I as know, the very best record of any mutual fund in Europe but is now closed.  They also disclose their top positions monthly as well.

 

Thanks. I'm now a subscriber to their newsletter.

 

They are not as concentrated as I would like. Only 38% of the portfolio is in the top 10 stocks:

http://www.moneta.fr/lettre_trimestrielle_MME.pdf

http://www.moneta.fr/prospectus_simplifie_MME.pdf

[Guest hellsten]

I recommend you the following :

 

Amiral Gestion in french:  http://www.amiralgestion.fr/Actualites/lettres.php

 

Ennismore in english with an interesting monthly letter!  http://www.ennismorefunds.com/documents/OEIC/OEIC%20-%20Most%20Recent%20NL.pdf

 

 

Les daubasses, in french also and you need to pay to see their move and their portfolio:  http://www.daubasses.com/

 

A new blog here in English:  http://wertartcapital.com/

 

 

Good search.  For your information, in my portfolio I have the following stocks in Europe:

 

Eni : Gaz

Resilux: Packaging

Saft: Battery

Credit Agricole, Banca Intesa: Bank

Dietereen: with a good franchise Belron who own Autoglass in the US for example.

cci ile et vilaine, atlantique vendee and languedoc:  regional bank of the group credit agricole.

Bijou Brigitte: retail jewelry fantasy.

 

Thanks. I learnt about XING through Ennismore. Too bad they don't have an option for subscribing to their newsletter.

 

I also found this article through one of the blogs you mentioned:

European Investing: Exclusive Insights and Ideas

http://www.beyondproxy.com/eis13/

[Guest hellsten]

Anyone knows a good European stock screener?

 

Two other screeners are discussed in this blog post:

http://valueandopportunity.com/2013/09/10/a-quick-look-at-the-stockopedia-screening-tool-quantitative-value-investing-data-quality/

 

Data quality seems to be an issue with many screeners…

[skanjete]

Duro Felguera is an interesting spanish company to look at.

 

Aggreko Plc has lost 35% from its top. Still not deep value, but a wonderful company with big moat. Worldwide leader in its sector by far.

 

CIR (Bestinver is large shareholder) also still cheap.

 

Steph,

 

Can you tell us something more about Duro Felguera?

Aggreko is a company I already follow and indeed a very nice company.

[txitxo]

Ireland exits the bailout program:

 

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-11-14/irish-to-exit-bailout-program-without-precautionary-credit-line.html

[DoddDisciple]

A mechanical strategy seems interesting to me as well. A few questions/thoughts:

 

Can you take data, particularly from the balance sheet, at face value from a place like FT screener? Is there a place that aggregates all the EDGAR-like sites or is corroborating the numbers not necessary?

 

Screener.co and value-investing.eu are the only two screeners that cover a large swath of stocks (30k-50k names).

 

I was a little surprised at txitxo going for stocks near their 52 week high. Have you compared this with the F score, or is that too hard to calculate for international stocks? Most metrics on the F score actually seem like measure of the momentum of improving fundamentals.

 

What about using Z and M scores to avoid value traps?

[jch548]

Anyone have a clue as to what is happening at Conduril? No 2012 Annual Report up at their site yet. I checked the Lisbon Exchange and couldn't find any info.

 

Not many shares changing hands at the current price. Still very cheap.

[jch548]

Just to add a couple of comments related to Conduril. A couple of months ago I saw what was either a Spanish or Portuguese engineering company get bought out at a nice premium. Also, Abengoa is now listed here in the U.S.

[Hielko]

Anyone have a clue as to what is happening at Conduril? No 2012 Annual Report up at their site yet. I checked the Lisbon Exchange and couldn't find any info.

 

Not many shares changing hands at the current price. Still very cheap.

Annual report for 2012 is available on their site since the first half of 2013. The interim 2013 report has actually already been released, although that one is not available online.