CEE generic producers offer good value.

Three generic producers Zentiva, Egis, Gedeon Richter are suffering from local government activities to cut public health financing. All CEE companies are traded with lower prices (measured with P/E ratio) that other pharmaceutical companies in western part of Europe. On top of that they do business in emerging countries. It always brings more customers who are trying to substitute expensive original pharmaceuticals.

Top companies in Central and Eastern Europe.

Company Deloitte sorted CEE companies based on several criteria like market capitalization, net income, revenues. I'd list here major CEE holdings based on revenues. The chart looks like (in mln EUR):

1 Volkswagen 21.297,4
2 Arcelor Mittal 8.626,8
3 Metro 7.857,1
4 Deutsche Telekom 7.271,7
5 OMV 6.944,5
6 E.ON 6.769,5
7 France Telecom 6.491,4
8 RWE 6.144,2
9 Tesco 5.639,4
10 Nokia 5.394,3

CEE companies compared based on annual net income has following order (in mln EUR):

1 Mol Hungary 1282,6
2 CEZ Czech Republic 1014,6
3 KGHM Poland 901,2
4 Slovensky plynarensky priemysel Slovakia 673,6
5 PETROM S. A. Romania 648,5
6 TP Poland 538,2
7 PKN Orlen Poland 529,0
8 U.S. Steel Kosice Slovakia 487,0
9 GK PSE Poland 468,8
10 NNEGC "Energoatom" Ukraine 466,6

Moody's rating for Czech Republic.

Czech Republic has currently assigned the second best rating which is A1, with positive outlook. Ratings for other countries in region are A1 for Slovakia (with stable outlook), A2 for Hungary and Poland. To get highest rating Aaa country needs to implement reforms for public finance and public heath. Higher rating would help companies like CEZ which are issuing eurobonds.

The strongest is Czech currency Koruna.

Czech Koruna already passed psychological resistance level 27 CZK for 1EUR. Against USD rate is 18,72. Currency is gaining from good sentiment in region of Central and Eastern Europe. Those countries are seen as resistant against slowing US economy and credit markets turmoils. The positive things I see are postponing Czech interest rates hike and cheaper oil for Czech companies.

Weekly outlook 29.10.

Next FED meeting ahead on Wednesday...

Monday
Economic: NA
Earnings: CNA (CNA), Humana (HUM), Kellogg (K), RadioShack (RSH), Schnitzer (SCHN), Verizon (VZ), Fording (FDG), Sohu (SOHU), Volcom (VLCM), Vulcan (VMC)

Tuesday
Economic: Consumer Confidence (100)
Earnings: Alcan (AL), BJ Services (BJS), Ceradyne (CRDN), Corn Products (CPO), Goodyear (GT), MGM (MGM), Office Depot (ODP), Procter & Gamble (PG), US Steel (X), Under Armour (UA), Chipotle (CMG), Invitrogen (IVGN), SiRF Tech (SIRF), S. Copper (PCU), Wynn (WYNN)

Wednesday
Economic: GDP Adv (3.1%), Chain Deflator (2.1%), Employ Cost Index (.9%), Weekly Crude, Chicago PMI (53), Construction Spend (-.3%), FOMC Policy Statement
Earnings: Alcatel (ALU), Boyd (BYD), Cameco (CCJ), Garmin (GRMN), Hess (HES), Kraft (KFT), Newmont (NEM), Shaw (SGR), Transocean (RIG), Barrick (ABX), Prudential (PRU), Teekay (TK), Sunoco (SUN).

Thursday:
Economic: Weekly Claims (335K), Inc & Spend (.4%, .4%), Core PCE (.2%), ISM (52), Pending Home Sales, Auto / Truck (5.1M, 7.2M)
Earnings: Agrium (AGU), Ameri-Bergen (ABC), Blockbuster (BBI), CVS (CVS), Kodak (EK), FC Stone (FCSX), Exxon (XOM), KBR (KBR), NYMEX (NMX), Oshkosh (OSK), Sprint (S), Applebee’s (APPB), Bucyrus (BUCY), Cbeyond (CBEY), Crocs (CROX), Guess (GES), LDK Solar (LDK), Oceaneering (OII), Tessera (TSRA), Walter (WLT), Western Digital (WDC)

Friday
Economic: Nonfarm Pay (90K), Unemployment (4.7%), Hourly
Earnings (.3%), Factory (1.0%)Earnings: Barnes (B), Chevron (CVX), CIGNA (CI), Duke (DUK), H. Wire & Cable (HWCC), Int’l Paper (IP), Martha Stewart (MSO), NYSE Euro (NYX)

Telecommunication industry in play.

We could saw very interesting week and perhaps even more interesting ahead. Especially last two days with bullish pressure after strong tech (Microsoft) earnings. My favourite among tech industries is European telecoms services (measured by DJ EURO STOXX telecommunication index). On Monday I've opened long position with Deutsche Telekom (DTE.DE). On Wednesday France Telecom (NYSE:FTE) posted strong results and lifted the whole sector. In recent months sector didn't show very good performance and its valuation is quite low (P/E ratio 12.5). Together with high dividend yield (3% on average, leader is MTA with 13%!) it is good pick.

Here you can see valuation for major European telco companies:

Telefonica (TEF) 14.29

Siemens (SI) 22.42

France Telecom (FTE) 13.82

BT Group (BT) 9.32

Royal KPN (KPN) 17.80

Magyar Telekom (MTA) 13.33

S&P500 has P/E ratio 18.

The valuation of index S&P500 is currently 18. Just 5 years ago it was doubled. From this point of view the bull trend is healthy and supported by corporate earnings. Ongoing earnings results are beating analyst estimates. 170 companies beat, 40 matched and 70 missed street expectation. Together with highly possible US rate cut we will see nice end year stock rally.

Now I am very bullish with tech sector but in future I'll switch to financial and banks again. Especially brokerages which are not really involved with subprime lenders issues but they've been hit by negative sentiment in financial industry.

Google assigned PR3 for my blog.

Finally yesterday my blog got assigned Google page rank. StockWeb has PR3. Time to time I had been checking some Google PR prediction tools and predicted was 4, sometimes 5. But anyway I am happy that finally my blog has PR.

Czech Stock Exchange extends trading hours.

From 3rd of March 2008 trading at Prague Stock Exchange will be extended by 1 hour. Nowadays trading hours are from 9:30 to 16:00. After changes it will be 9:00 to 16:30.

Indian ADR Dr. Reddy's Lab to my watch list.

Lately I was mentioning few Indian ADRs traded on US markets. One of them stays in my watch list. The company is called Dr. Reddy's Laboratories (RDY) based in Hyderabad. They operates as a pharmaceutical company. It focuses on formulations, active pharmaceutical ingredients and intermediates, generic drugs, critical care products, biotechnology products, custom pharmaceutical services, and drug discovery. The company conducts research in the areas of cancer, cardiovascular disorders, bacterial infection, and metabolic disorders. It markets its products principally in India, Russia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Brazil, Germany, Spain, Italy, Australia, and South Africa.
Company P/E valuation is pretty low at 10. Also from technical point of view chart is showing nice pattern since the beginning of the year 2007.
Tomorrow on 24th October we have earnings call.

Barclays Capital enters CEE markets.

Barclays Capital is new issuer at Prague Stock Exchange. The new product is structured note KOMODITY PLUS (ISIN XS0322226415). This news itself is not very interesting. Because which foreign investor is interested in commodity trading in Czech Stock Exchange. Interesting point is that this is the first Barclays activity on markets Central and Eastern Europe. With other structured notes (under laying CEE assets) it could be gate how to get exposure for Central and Eastern European stock markets.

New IPO on Prague Stock Exchange - VGP.

It looks that till the end of November we will see next initial public offerings on Czech Stock Exchange. The company in question is Dutch based VGP. Developer of industrial parks. Subscribed stock should reached 30% of total stock and authorized share capital is planned to ensure company growth for following 5 years. IPO is going to be dual issuing, in Prague and in Brussels. After Orco and ECM we can welcome third developer group on Prague Stock Exchange.

Weekly outlook. 22.10.

Monday
Economic: NA
Earnings: Ceragon (CRNT), Halliburton (HAL), Weatherford (WFT), Merck (MRK), Apple (AAPL), American Express (AXP), Texas Inst (TXN), Hexcel (HXL), Netflix (NFLX)

Tuesday
Economic: NA
Earnings: AT&T (T), Biogen (BIIB), Burlington (BNI), Coach (COH), DuPont (DD), Johnson Controls (JCI), Echelon (ELON), Smith (SII), T.Rowe (TROW), USG (USG), Whirlpool (WHR), Waters (WAT), Amazon (AMZN), Broadcom (BRCM), Illumina (ILMN), Juniper (JNPR), Novellus (NVLS), Riverbed (RVBD), XL Cap (XL)

Wednesday
Economic: Existing Home Sales (5.3M), Weekly Crude
Earnings: Air Products (APD), Alleghany (ATI), Boeing (BA), Conoco (COP), Merrill (MER), Airgas (ARG), Akamai (AKAM), Core Labs (CLB), F5 Net (FFIV), Pulte (PHM), Symnatec (SYMC), NutriSystem (NTRI), NetLogic (NETL), Monster (MNST), Ryland (RYL), Terex (TEX)

Thursday
Economic: Weekly Claims (320K), Durable Orders (1.5%), New Home Sales (785K)
Earnings: Aetna (AET), Ball (BLL), Black & Decker (BDK), Borg W (BWA), Celgene (CELG), Cummins (CUM), Dow Chem (DOW), EMC (EMC), L-3 (LLL), Motorola (MOT), Potash (POT), Terra Ind (TRA), Amgen (AMGN), Baidu (BIDU), Cemex (CX), Deckers (DECK), KLA-Tencor (KLAC), Microsoft (MSFT), Varian (VSEA)

Friday
Economic: Michigan (82.5)
Earnings: Baker H (BHI), Countrywide (CFC), Ingersoll (IR), Tidewater (TDW), Waste Mgt (WMI), Buenaventura SA (BVN), Meritage (MTH)

Indian stock market stepped down.

Indian Stock Market is down from Wednesday after Indian regulators revealed plan to ban unregistered foreign institutional investors to put money on local market. This could be negative for future outlook as hot BSE index was fuelled by foreign money. Is is good time to pick cheaper Indian stocks (ADRs)? Or good time to exit? Here you have major Indian ADRs traded on US markets.

CTSH - Cognizant Technology Solutions
IBN - Icici Bank ADS
INGR - Intergraph Corp
INFY - Infosys Technologies ADS
SAY - Satyam Computer Svcs ADS
SIFY - Sify Ltd ADS
REDF - Rediff.com India ADS
RDY - Dr. Reddy's Labs ADS
VSL - Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd ADS
SSI - SpectraSite Inc WIT Wipro Ltd ADS
MTE - Mahanagar Tel Nigam ADS
HDB - Hdfc Bank ADS

CETV - Be prepared for good future!

Czech subsidiary (TV Nova) of Central European Media (CETV) announced today to increase price for TV advertising by 20%. This year increase was 16%. This step is perhaps due to higher market share which company reached recently. CETV also updated outlook for revenue from USD 795 mil. to USD 820 mil.
Undoubtedly it is best performing blue chip of last weeks at Czech Stock Exchange. CETV is also traded on NASDAQ.

Polish polls pushing CEE currencies.

This weekend in Poland preliminary elections are held. Polish Zloty has lifted to PLN/EUR 3,7. Also Czech Koruna has been dragged to new all-time-high CZK/EUR 27,38. Centre-right parties are expected to win which could support Zloty even more.

Yesterday winner EBay. How about Google today...?

Yesterday EBay reported profit 41 cents per share (excl. Skype charge). Analyst expectations were at 33 cents. Revenue grew 30%. Today my second big tech holding is reporting. Gainer of last days Google.

Czech Koruna the strongest against EUR and USD.

Today CZK up against both major currencies. Current currency rates are: CZK/EUR 27,44 and CZK/USD 19,32. USD was sent down due to slowing US housing market plus report from IMF (International Monetary Fund) that subprime issue has significant impact on US economy.

I am happy to be Czech investor keeping Czech Koruna ...

Russian stocks (ADR) traded on NYSE.

Mobile Telesystems (MBT) is a provider of mobile cellular communications services in Russia , Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan to consumers and corporate customers, employing technology based on GSM. Shares have 51% YTD increase with P/E ratio 19,5.

International Telecommunications Rostelecom (ROS) is Russia's national long-distance telecommunications operator. Co. owns and operates an up-to-date nationwide digital trunk network. Outside of Moscow, Co. acts as a 'carriers' carrier' - interconnecting all local public operators' networks into a single transnational network. YTD growth by 40% and with P/E valuation 260.

Vimpel Communications (VIP) is an international provider of wireless telecommunications services in the Commonwealth of Independent States. Cellular license portfolio covers approximately 240 million people. Geographically it covers 77 regions in Russia (representing 94% of Russia's population), as well as the entire territories of Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Georgia and Armenia. Amazing YTD 97% with still reasonable PE ratio 28,6.

Wimm-Bill-Dann Foods (WBD) is a holding company with four business units: dairy, beverages, baby food and Agro. Company has PE ratio 41,5 and YTD 62%.

Prague Stock Exchange beats all time high !!!

Today's closing at 1908 points is all time high for main stock market index PX50. Index has been supported mainly by Morgan Stanley's upgrade for CEZ and also by today's best performer CETV. General picture of Czech trading is in line with expectations. Too expensive Komercni Banka down vs. last month's laggard Erste up. Except CEZ we could see very low trading activity.

StockWeb now also as a mobile site.

I've created page also as a mobile site which is more friendly for smart phone or PDA usage. To subscribe my mobile feed you can use icon at right sidebar.

For bloggers wishing to turn your feed also for mobile usage you can use service provided by FeedM8.

Weekly outlook - Technology earnings

Following week has big tech names reporting earnings results like Google, Yahoo, IBM, Intel, Motorola, Ebay, Nokia

Monday
Economic: Empire Index (14.0)
Earnings: Citigroup (C), Mattel (MAT), New Oriental E & T (EDU), Genentech (DNA)

Tuesday
Economic: Ind Prod & Capacity (.1%, 82.2%), NAHB Sentiment Index (19)
Earnings: J & J (JNJ), KeyCorp (KEY), State Street (STT), Wells F (WFC), Seagate (STX), Yahoo (YHOO), CSX Corp (CSX), Intel (INTC)

Wednesday
Economic: CPI & Core (.2%, .2%), Housing Starts & Bldg P’s (1.28M, 1.3M), Weekly Crude, Beige Book
Earnings: Altria (MO), BlackRock (BLK), Coke (KO), Illinois Tool (ITW), JP Morgan (JPM), United Tech (UTX), AMR (AMR), Citrix (CTXS), eBay (EBAY), Noble (NE), WAMU (WM)

Thursday
Economic: Weekly Claims (315K), Leading Ind (.4%), Philly Fed (8.0)
Earnings: BofA (BAC), Continental (CAL), Cypress (CY), Eli Lilly (LLY), Danaher (DHR), McDonalds (MCD), Motorola (MOT), Nokia (NOK), SunPower (SPWR), Union Pac (UNP), Cap One (COF), Cerner (CERN), Cree (CREE), Gilead (GILD), Google (GOOG), IBM (IBM), Int. Surg (ISRG), SanDisk (SNDK)

Friday
Economic: NA
Earnings: 3M (MMM), Amcol (ACO), Arch (ACI), Boston Sci (BSC), Caterpillar (CAT), Harley (HOG) Schlumberger (SLB), Sonoco (SUN), Wachovia (WB)

CETV receives incomes due to politics.

Politicians in Czech Republic has revealed bright future for Central European Media (CETV) after Chamber of Deputies last week voted novel of media law. The law unblocks development of DNP (digitalizing).
Last week in Ukraine, other CEE market where CETV is doing business, hold preliminary elections. Election campaign was very expensive even in comparison with European standard. Major spendings were for advertising in TV which could contribute CETV very well. And therefore incomes in third qaurter are expected higher. It is welcomed after disappointing first half year of 2007.

Google mobile maybe on February 08.

Google Inc. (GOOG) has received two analyst upgrades from Lehman Brothers and Bank of America with targets at $714 and $670. Introduction of new Google cell phone on Feb 08 could help shares to reach those targets. Currently Google is one of the major holdings in my portfolio.

Weekly outlook - Earnings season starts with Alcoa.

We are just at the beginning of earnings season. On Tuesday as usual kick-off with Alcoa.

Monday
Economic: N/A
Earnings: YUM! Brands (YUM)

Tuesday
Economic: FOMC Minutes
Earnings: M&T Bank (MTB), Cantel (CMN), Oxford (OXM), Alcoa (AA)

Wednesday
Economic: Weekly Crude
Earnings: Costco (COST), Infosys (INFY), Monsanto (MON), Progressive (PGR)

Thursday
Economic: Weekly Claims (315K), Import / Export, Trade Balance (-$59.0B)
Earnings: Fastenal (FAST), FCStone (FCSX), Pepsi (PEP), SLM Corp (SLM), Safeway (SWY)

Friday
Economic: Retail Sales / ex Auto (.2%, .3%), PPI & Core (.4%, .2%), Biz Inv (.3%), Michigan (84)
Earnings: General Electric (GE)

Divx with bullish outlook.

Company (DIVX) has been under seller's pressure since March 07 after disappointing Q results. But looking back from last Q results which were a bit better that street expected, I see better future for stocks. Two important partnerships were announced. Yahoo (YHOO) and DivX will launch in November co-branded version of Yahoo! Toolbar and Internet Explorer 7 for for easy download DivX video software tools.
Also agreement with Qualcomm (QCOM) is very promising. DivX technology will be included in range of video-enabled chip sets.

All this positive since June and share price is still slightly lower by 5%...

Two banking rivals - Erste vs. Societe Generale.

Last week on Prague Stock Exchange was in token of bulls. Main stock index PX50 is close to all time high (1881 points). The best performing was Erste Bank which was under bearish pressure after credit crunch. Weekly shares gained 8%. On the other side main rival Komercni banka (Societe Generale) lost 1.3%. Perhaps investors don't see a lot of potential for growth as stocks are reaching record price. P/E ratio is more or less the same for both (17). Investment plan in Ukraine helped Erste to grow this week.

PE valuation for global stock markets and trend during the bull market.

This picture shows you how global stock markets have tended since the bull market has started on 2003. You see also P/E ratios tendency (highest decrease for Spain, increase for India). Third column has ETF connected with respective stock market.

picture source: Tickersense blog

Stock screener and statistics for Czech Stock Exchange.

I am giving you link to left sidebar where you can find monthly pdf reports about companies traded at Prague Stock Exchange. It has major statistics about trading activities, fundamental indicators and also valuation for major Czech stock indices. Currently Czech main market has P/E 23,44 and P/BV 2,95 with Dividend yields 3,16.

Standard & Poors has improved rating for Czech Republic.

Rating which is taking into consideration mainly foreign-exchange liabilities and ability to acquittance was improved from grade A- to A. Also rating about domestic liabilities went up from grade A to A+. Undoubtedly positive news are reflecting reform of public finance which will help deficit reduction.
On the other side for better rating S&P agency is missing better outlook or even plan for EURO adoption. creditworthiness of Czech Republic is now at the same level like Slovakia, Lithuania, Estonia. Other CEE countries Hungary and Poland are with lower rating.In former times also currency (Czech Koruna) appreciation led for rating increase.

Weekly outlook. 1.10.

Go ahead earnings season...

Monday:
Economic: ISM Index (52.5), Auto / Truck (5.1, 7.2M)
Earnings: Walgreen (WAG), Palm (PALM), AngioDynamics (ANGO)

Tuesday:
Economic: Pending Home Sales (88)
Earnings: Pepsi Bottling (PBG)

Wednesday:
Economic: ISM Services (55), Weekly Crude
Earnings: RPM Inc (RPM), Immucor (BLUD)

Thursday:
Economic: Weekly Claims (310K), Factory Orders (-2.5%)
Earnings: Constellation Brands (STZ), Family Dollar (FDO), Marriott (MAR), Matrix (MTRX), Micron (MU), Ninetowns (NINE), Pall Corp (PLL), Research In Motion (RIMM), Sealy (ZZ)

Friday:
Economic: NF Payrolls (100K), Unemployment (4.7%), Hourly Earnings (.3%)
Earnings: Emmis (EMMS), Merix (MERX)