3 Euro Stocks With Rising Dividends

To secure healthy dividend yields and sidestep the ailing U.S. dollar, look to European aristocracy. I refer not to Windsors and Borbóns but to Nestle and Novartis, and to the 38 other members of the S&P Europe 350 Dividend Aristocrats.

Index members are decided at the start of each year by selecting those members of S&P’s Europe 350 index that have increased their dividends annually for at least a decade. If more than 40 companies turn up, S&P chooses the 40 with the highest dividend yields. If fewer than 40 are found, it eases the requirement to seven years of rising dividends.

This year through Friday, the 40 Euro-Dividend Aristocrats have returned 36%, besting the broader Europe 350 by 12 percentage points and America’s Dividend Aristocrats by 16 percentage points. Below are highlighted three Euro-Dividend Aristocrats. A full list may be found here.

A note on the letters that come after foreign company names: They stand for local terms for business structures, and so are a bit like “Inc.” in the U.S. AG is Aktiengesellschaft, or “share company” in German. S.A. stands for the equivalent of “anonymous society” in several languages. N.V. is Naamloze Vennootschap, or “nameless partnership,” in Dutch. Plc is “public limited company” in the U.K. And so on.

Dividend Yield: 3.8%

American drivers are often shocked the first time they pay a highway toll in Europe. A drive down France’s A10 from Paris to Bordeaux costs 47 euros and change (about $70 at current exchange rates). A slightly longer drive, from just outside Manhattan to Buffalo on the New York State Thruway, costs about $19. Investors can pocket French and Spanish tolls without resorting to roadside banditry by buying shares of Barcelona-based Abertis Infraestructuras SA. (ticker ABE on Madrid Stock Exchange). Travel and transport being economically sensitive, Abertis reported a 4% decline in first-half travel volumes versus a year earlier. The share price has declined by about a quarter over the past two years, but 10-year holders have still enjoyed average annual returns of about 10%. The dividend yield has swollen to 3.8%. Toll road management is a slow-growth business, but Abertis has expanded in recent years into Argentina and Chile, and is pursuing privatization deals with state transportation departments in the U.S., many of whom badly need new revenue.

Dividend Yield: 1.7%

Bet on aging: People everywhere will reach a median age of 38 in 2050, up from 29 today, and rich countries by then will be closer to 50, reckons the United Nations. Among other things, that probably bodes well for sales of corrective lenses. Essilor International (ticker EF on Paris Stock Exchange) is the world sales leader in the lens business, with a market share of greater than 25%. Brands include Varilux, Transitions and Nikon. Europe contributes 45% of sales and the U.S., 42%. The company turns about 18 cents of each sales dollar into operating profit, versus 10 cents for the median S&P 500 company. Analysts expect Essilor to increase its sales 8% this year and 6% next year. One negative: At 20 times earnings, shares are priced merely in line with the U.S. and European markets at the moment, which is to say, they look a touch expensive.

Dividend Yield: 1.2%

Bet on obesity, too. In America, just one state, Colorado, has an obesity rate below 20%, according to the Centers for Disease Control. In Europe, the current rate of childhood obesity is 10 times its 1970s level, according to the World Health Organization. Danish drug maker Novo Nordisk (NVO) (which trades on the New York Stock Exchange) is keenly focused on diabetes, a disease common to the overweight. It controls nearly half the world market for insulin, selling, among other things, brightly-colored pen-shaped injectors for administering the blood-sugar-regulating hormone to children. Analysts expect Novo Nordisk to increase sales by 13% this year and 9% next year.