Saturday, August 04, 2007

New Zealand Stocks: More than just Kiwis


Some facts about New Zealand:
1. It is ranked 20th on the 2006 Human Development Index.
2. It is 15th on The Economist's 2005 world-wide quality-of-life index.
3. It exports almost 28% of its output.
4. It is ranked number 40 in terms of GDP per capita.
5. It is number 41 in terms of lowest unemployment rate of all countries, which is only 3.7%, the second lowest of the twenty-seven OECD nations.
6. The inflation rate is only 3.8%.
7. It has a Political freedom rating of 1 for both political rights and civil liberties.
8. It has a literacy ranking of 1, with 99.9% literate.
9. It is ranked the least corrupt on the Corruption Perceptions Index.
10. It is ranked number 2 on the Global Peace Index.

Here are some New Zealand stocks worth reviewing:

Telecom Corp. of New Zealand Ltd. (NZT) provides land line and wireless telecommunications services, Internet services, and directory publications in New Zealand and Australia to residential and business customers. The stock, which trades on the New York Stock Exchange, has a P/E of 17, a P/S of 1.55, and pays a nice yield of 5.1%. The company just reported their annual earnings for the year ended June 30, 2007. Operating revenues increased 1.2%, Adjusted EBITDA dropped 3.6%, and adjusted net earnings went up by 16.5%. The stock dropped almost 7% on the news.

Air New Zealand (ANZFF.PK) is an Auckland based major passenger airline, which serves Australia, New Zealand, the South Pacific, Europe, North America and Asia. For the latest reported six month period, net profit increased by 61 percent. They just increased their dividend by 20%.

Auckland International Airport (ACKDF.PK) is the largest and busiest international airport in New Zealand. It is the it is the fourth largest airport in the Australia New Zealand area. Revenues were up about 1.1% and net income was almost unchanged.

Comvita New Zealand (CVNZF.PK) manufactures honey and health products. The company just reported that a patented advanced wound care dressing that they developed has become the first honey-based product for the management of wounds and burns to receive marketing clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration. They reported sales up 10% for the latest reported period over the same period last year and that exports were up 17%.

Windflow Technology Ltd. ADR (WFLWF.PK), which is based in Christchurch, New Zealand, designs, develops, manufactures and markets wind power turbines. Revenues for the latest reported six months were up 663%, however, net deficit increased by about 5.2%. The stock rarely trades in the U.S.

Contact Energy (COENF.PK) is an electricity generation and electricity retailing company that provides 25% of the New Zealand electricity. Operating revenues were down 32.8% and net profit was down about 16.1%.

Fisher & Paykel Appliances Ltd (FPAHF.PK) is an Auckland based major appliance manufacturer. Revenues for the latest reported year were up 16.7% and net profit dropped 4.4%.

Author does not own any of the above.

By Fred Fuld at Stockerblog.com

3 comments:

joe mama said...
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joe mama said...
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joe mama said...

I was in New Zealand from July to October 2006 and learned about Windflow from a major Windflow investor. They are using proprietary technology that solves the problem of turbine damage when windspeed is excessive. The two-bladed propeller design is much quieter than the 3-bladed monsters made by other companies. Their turbines are smaller than those made by other companies and fills a niche market created by the many areas that would be amenable to windfarms but don't want huge and noisy towers.

Management has carefully managed growth in a slow and steady manner. It also has a sizeable ownership in the company. They are aiming to enter the U.S. market and just made a non-binding agreement with a Hawaiian utility to supply turbines.

The symbol mentioned the the blogpost (WFLWF.PK) is the actual stock, which is tradced sporadically in the U.S. on the pink sheets. The ADR symbol is WFLWY.PK, and it does not trade as, the last time I checked, there was no marketmaker. I have been able to purchase the actual stock 3 times in the last 12 months, so it is available. The stock is up around 67% in the past year.

Windflow has a website and the stock as traded in NZ (symbol WTL) can be followed on the NZAX website (nzx.com).