10 Profitable International Stocks For Global Investors
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I’ve heard the recommendation, and it is loud and clear.
Diversify over asset class, country and currency.
So, last week I looked at the stock index performance of every country listed in Schwab.
I found the Top 10 Countries With Highest Stock Index Performance Since COVID.
This week I decided to deep dive into each of the top 10 countries and see what companies are causing the growth.
| Company | Country | 1 Year Growth in USD |
| Mercado Libre | Argentina | 146% |
| LG Chem Ltd | South Korea | 177% |
| Samsung Electronics | South Korea | 83% |
| Evolution Gaming Group AB | Sweden | 305% |
| ASML Holdings NV | Netherlands | 118% |
| Ayden NV | Netherlands | 141% |
| Taiwan Semiconductor Mfg. Co. Ltd. | Taiwan | 123% |
| Mediatek | Taiwan | 162% |
| Grupo Mexico SAB de CV B | Mexico | 122% |
| Norsk Hydro ASA | Norway | 188% |
#1 Mercado Libre (MELI) – https://investor.mercadolibre.com/
I looked at the chart for Argentina’s stock growth and the chart for Mercado Libre over the last year and they were virtually identical.
Pretty much the entire stock index of Argentina is this one company.
They have a Market Capitalization of $80.0 Billion and are traded on the NASDAQ.
I researched into the history of Mercado Libre as I was wondering how a company from Argentina is trading on the Nasdaq.
It seems that it was started by Argentina born Marcos Galperin when he was attending Stanford.
Taken from Wikipedia:
“He acquired funding from John Muse, co-founder of HM Capital Partners.[7][8] Mercado Libre received additional funding from JPMorgan Partners, Flatiron Partners, Goldman Sachs, GE Capital, and Banco Santander Central Hispano. In 1999, Mercado Libre was chosen as an Endeavor company. “
The website shows that they have an online marketplace – like EBay – and also handle payment processing – like Square – and peer to peer money transfers – like Paypal.
They are big in Latin America and dominate the online marketplace, like Amazon does in the U.S.
Looking at the stock, if you bought the stock last year and held it to now, you would see your shares increase in value 146% (on 5/5/2020 increased from $620.94 USD on 5/4/2021 to $1,526.91 USD)!
They also have steady growth in sales revenues, with 2020 having $3.973 Billion as opposed to 2019 having $2.296 Billion and 2018 having $1.44 Billion.
However, with the growing sales revenue, expenses have gone up disproportionately and the company is actually shrinking in Net Worth.
Just calculating the percentage of the cost of revenue (cost of providing the services sold), in 2016 it was 36%, in 2017 it was 40%, 2018 & 2019 it was 52% of sales revenue and in 2020 it was 60%.
That being said, in 2020 they had a much smaller loss per share than in 2018 (-$0.82) and 2019 (-$3.53), with earnings per share at -$0.01.
Looking at it’s balance sheet, in 2020 the company has total assets of $6.526 Billion, which increased from prior years (2019 $4.782 Billion, 2018 $2.24 Billion, 2017 $1.673 Billion).
However the total liabilities also increased in 2020 to $4.875 Billion at 75% debt/assets ratio, and increase from 2019 but a decrease from prior years (2019 $2.7 Billion, 2018 $1,903 Billion, 2017 $1.347 Billion).
Finally, shareholder equity decreased in 2020 to $1.652 Billion from 2019 $2.082 Billion.
The company does not pay dividends and has not paid dividends since 2017. They feel investing in the business gives shareholders a larger return on their investment.
#2 LG Chem Ltd (https://www.lgchem.com/company/investment-information/financial-information/financial-summary)
LG Chem Ltd is a chemical company that manufactures chemical catalysts, plastics, resins, vaccines and drugs, electric batteries, toothpaste, pipes and a million other products.
LG Chem’s Parent company is LG Corp and on it’s website it shows consolidated financials as well as the financials of just LG Chem.
LG Chem’s assets are $25.85 Trillion KRW and liabilities are $8.887 Trillion KRW.
It’s revenue was $20.83 Trillion KRW and its Net Income was $98 Billion KRW.
It’s cash increased from $1.889 Trillion KRW in 2019 to $3.274 Trillion KRW in 2020.
Established in 1949 they have developed into a global business, with partnerships all over the world.
In terms of their stock performance, purchasing a stock on 5/6/2020 at 361,000 KRW would have increased on 5/4/2021 to 920,000 KRW!!!
I looked at the foreign exchange rate for Korean Won to USD and found that on 5/5/2020 it was 0.00081732 and on 5/5/2021 it was 0.000888916.
In converting to USD, the share price increased 177% from $295.06 USD on 5/5/2020 to $817.80 USD on 5/5/2021!!!
#3 Samsung Electronics (https://www.samsung.com/global/ir/)
Samsung Electronics is a Korean company founded in 1969 and makes home electronics such as televisions, smart phones and microwaves.
In my ranking of country’s stock index growth, Korea came in at #2 and I found that 25.89% of the index was Samsung.
Samsung’s stock is traded on the Korean stock index known as the KRX. It’s growth in stock price was 69% from May 6, 2020 (49,200) to May 4, 2021 (82,600).
I looked at the foreign exchange rate for Korean Won to USD and found that on 5/5/2020 it was 0.00081732 and on 5/5/2021 it was 0.000888916.
Converting to USD, the share price went up 83% from $40.21 USD on 5/6/2020 to $73.42 USD on 5/4/2021.
Samsung has a market capitalization of $440.4 Billion and has increased it’s profit from 2019 to 2020. This resulted in an earnings per share of $3.25 per share.
The Balance Sheet looked strong with assets of $320 Billion and liabilities at $86 Billion.
#4 Evolution Gaming Group AB (https://www.evolution.com/investors)
Evolution Gaming says it’s the leading B2B provider of live casino systems.
The house always wins right?
If you had owned shares of Evolution Gaming Group AB for the past year, you would have seen a huge 249% return in it’s value – 5/4/2020 $449.60 SEK on 5/4/2021 $1,570 SEK!
I converted the SEK to USD to see what the difference in exchange rate had on the percentage growth in share price using these exchange rates – 5/5/2020 SEK to USD exchange rate of 0.1018 and 5/4/2021 SEK to USD exchange rate of 0.118.
The increase in share price for the stock for the past year in USD was an astounding 305% – 5/5/2020 $45.77 USD to 5/4/2021 $185.26 USD.
Their 2020 sales revenues increased from 2019 $410 Million USD to 2020 $685 Million USD.
2019 also brought an increase is sales revenue from prior years (2018 $282 Million USD, 2017 $214 Million USD, 2016 $121 Million USD).
Diluted earnings per share has been steadily increasing year after year with 2020 at $1.89/share USD, 2019 at $0.93/share, 2018 $0.53/share, 2017 at $0.41/share and 2016 at $0.18/share.
Total Assets for the Evolution Gaming Group skyrocketed a whopping 695% in 2020 to $3.871 Billion USD from $487 Million in 2019.
Total Liabilities are $541 Million USD in 2020 compared to $172 Million USD in 2019.
The stock trades as EVO.ST on NASDAQ Stockholm.
#5 ASML Holding NV (https://www.asml.com/en/investors/)
If you invested in ASML Holdings NV on 5/5/2020 at $288.35 USD, then you would see your shares increase 118% to today’s price on 5/4/2021 of $629 USD.
That’s a huge return for just one of the Netherland’s powerhouse stocks.
This producer of semiconductors trades on both the NASDAQ and on the Amsterdam Exchange as ASML.
Earnings per share was $10.36 in 2020, which increased from 2019 at $6.91.
Their dividends on the other hand decreased from 2019 to 2020 by 19%.
They mention that they use the money for share buybacks and to return capital to investors.
#6 Ayden NV (https://www.adyen.com/investor-relations)
Ayden NV’s stock price increased 117% in a year from 5/4/2020 $890 Euros to 5/4/2021 $1,930.80 Euros.
I did a rough calculation of the USD increase, using the exchange rate from Euros to USD on 5/5/2020 of 1.083 and 5/4/2021 of 1.2016 and I calculated a 141% increase in stock price on 5/5/2020 at $963.87 USD to 5/4/2021 at $2,320 USD.
Ayden NV is also a company in the Netherlands that trades on the Amsterdam Stock Index.
It offers payment processing services globally.
The Net Income in 2020 was 3.553 Billion Euros, which was an increase from 2019 2.592 Billion Euros.
Total Assets increased 22.629 Billion Euros in 2019 to 27.267 Billion Euros in 2020.
Total Liabilities increased from 10.037 Billion Euros in 2019 to 13.402 Billion Euros in 2020.
41% increase 5/5/2020 $14.95 USD to 5/4/2021 $21.12 USD
#7 Taiwan Semiconductor Mfg. Co. Ltd. (https://investor.tsmc.com/english)
As the company name suggests, Taiwan Semiconductor Mfg. Co. Ltd. manufactures semiconductors.
Owning this stock for a year gave you a 123% return with the share price on 5/5/2020 at $51.71 going all the way up on 5/4/2021 to $115.36.
It is traded on the NYSE as an American Depository Receipt (ADR) as TSM, and on the Taiwan Stock Exchange as 2330.
Earnings per share in the 2020 Annual Report are $0.71.
The Annual Report is in Taiwan New Dollars.
In 2020 the company’s revenue was 47.677 Billion USD, as compared to $35.770 Billion USD from 2019.
That was a very high 33% increase in revenue, where in prior years average increase was about 6%.
The large increase in revenue and profits led to a 58% increase in earnings per share for 2020, whereas it was pretty steady years prior (2019 $0.45 earnings/share, 2018 $0.44 earnings/share, 2017 $0.45 earnings/share, 2016 $0.40 earnings/share).
Total Assets are $98.281 Billion USD in 2020 and Total Liabilities are $32.434 Billion USD.
#8 Mediatek (https://www.mediatek.com/)
This Taiwan company has their chip in over 2 Billion TVs around the world, as well as innovates 5G tech for driverless cars and AI technology.
They have also been profitable over this last year with their share price increasing from $408 TWD on 5/6/2020 to $1,005 TWD on 5/5/2021.
In terms of USD the increase is even higher since the TWD has appreciated in value compared to the USD.
Using the historical exchange rate the Taiwan Dollar TWD to USD on 5/6/2020 was 0.0335533 and on 5/5/2021 is 0.0357347.
Converting to USD, the increase for 1 year was 162% from $13.69 USD on 5/6/2020 to $35.91 on 5/5/2021!
They have not completed their Annual Report for 2020 yet, and the following results are taken from historical graphs on their website.
Their 2020 Revenue was $322.1 Billion TWD or $11.9 Billion USD which was a large increase over all prior years.
In 2019 their revenue was $246.2 Billion TWD or $8.8 Billion USD.
In 2020, earnings per share grew to $26.01 TWD or $0.93 USD as opposed to 2019 which was $14.69 TWD or $0.49 USD per share.
#9 Grupo Mexico SAB de CV B (https://www.gmexico.com/Pages/Informacion-Financiera.aspx)
Grupo Mexico SAB de CV B is a copper mining, railroad transport and an engineering company that builds industrial plants.
If you bought stock in Grupo Mexico SAB de CV B last year you would have seen growth of 122% 5/5/2020 $2.03 USD 5/5/2021 to $4.50 USD.
They have not competed their annual report for 2020 as of yet.
All their reports are in Spanish, but according to their website, their 1st quarter earnings for 2021 are $3.435 Billion USD and Net Income was $1.031 Billion USD.
Their mines are still producing despite COVID, with 271,312 Tons of production in the first quarter.
#10 Norsk Hydro ASA (https://www.hydro.com/en-US/investors/)
Norsk Hydro ASA is a company in Norway that produces hydro and wind power, aluminum, metal recycling, renewables and batteries.
The stock had amazing 188% growth from $2.30 USD on 5/6/2020 to $6.62 USD on 5/5/2020.
The company has a long history and has many spin offs that are all the major companies on Norway’s stock index.
In 2020, revenue was $138.118 Billion NOK, with Net Income at $1.66 Billion NOK and earnings per share at $0.90 NOK.
Total assets are $101 Billion NOK and liabilities are $19,230 Billion NOK.
In terms of cashflow, Nordik Hydro got the majority of it’s cash in 2020 through financing ($10.403 Billion NOK). Without the borrowed money, they would have been in the red a little over $2 Billion NOK.
Conclusion
I hope you got as excited as I did about companies outside the U.S. who are having 100% growth in share price.
Let me know if you have any comments by leaving them below!