Three ways to boost your foreign exposure

Article Excerpt

A great way to improve your international exposure is to buy high-quality firms that trade on the New York Stock Exchange as American Depositary Receipts (ADRs). Here are three of our favourites (including Sony—see box). Note, however, that we see only one of them as a buy right now. ABB LTD. ADRs $33 is a buy. This Swiss-based company (New York symbol ABB; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; ADRs outstanding: 1.9 billion; Market cap: $62.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.1; Dividend yield: 2.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.abb.com) is a leading maker of electrical transformers, transmission systems and circuit breakers for electrical utilities. It also makes robotic equipment. In October 2022, the company spun off its turbocharging business (called Accelleron). That unit makes equipment to improve the performance of diesel and gasoline-powered engines. The new Accelleron shares trade on the Swiss Stock Exchange. ABB also sold its 19.9% stake in a power grid joint venture with Japan’s Hitachi for $1.4 billion. Despite those sales, the…