Central and Eastern Europe Fund Holdings (Q3 2023)
Eastern European stock picks that are the holdings of the closed-end Central and Eastern Europe Fund Inc (NYSE: CEE) plus key Czech Republic and Hungary economic stats.
This post takes a closer look at all the stock pick holdings (as of the end of September) for the the remaining Eastern European closed-end fund:
Central and Eastern Europe Fund Inc (NYSE: CEE)
Trailing P/E: 9.00 / Forward Annual Dividend Yield: 2.79% (Yahoo! Finance)
Note the geographic diversity of the closed-end fund’s holdings (albeit Moldova should really be listed as Romania) and most have listings on key European exchanges plus Interactive Brokers gives access to the Budapest Stock Exchange (Budapesti Értéktőzsde) and the Warsaw Stock Exchange:
Russian stocks still held by the fund are listed in the holdings documentation, but are marked as effectively being worth zero with a zero portfolio weight (See: The Central and Eastern Europe Fund, Inc. Provides Updated Portfolio Holdings, etc.).
As with the Polish ETF, the closed-end fund is heavily exposed to the financial sector:
The closed-end fund had taken a big hit when the Russia-Ukraine war and accompanied sanctions started (the charts are linked back to Yahoo! Finance):
And the long term performance chart:
Many of the fund’s Polish stocks (see our Poland ADRs page for more Polish stocks and investing resources) are also held by the iShares MSCI Poland ETF (NYSEARCA: EPOL) which we discussed, along with key Polish stats and the upcoming Polish elections, last Sunday (iShares MSCI Poland ETF Holdings Ahead of Polish Elections (October 2023)).
As stated before, you can draw your own conclusions concerning the Polish elections along whether Hungary’s controversial Viktor Orbán is good or bad for investing in the country.
In addition, both countries in particular are on the front lines of any NATO-EU conflict in the Ukraine with Russia e.g. the legacy of Galicia and Transcarpathia being carved up after and between World War I and II is the large Hungarian minority population living in Ukraine while the Lviv region had belonged to Poland between the wars.
Here is some key Hungary economic data (see our Hungary ADRs page for more Hungarian stocks and investing resources):
In addition, our September 18th post noted this recent article from Undervalued Shares that discussed Hungary and mentioned a few Hungarian stocks:
🇭🇺 Hungarian stocks – worth a closer look? (Undervalued Shares)
There is still a decent amount of research available about MOL Magyar Olaj- és Gázipari Nyilvánosan Muködo Részvénytársaság (BSE: MOL / FRA: MOGB / MOGG / OTCMKTS: MGYOY) (ISIN HU0000153937, BUD:MOL), the state-controlled oil company, Magyar Telekom (BSE: MTEL / LON: 0NUG / FRA: MGYB / OTCMKTS: MYTAY) (ISIN HU0000073507, BUD:MTEL), the national telecoms operator, and OTP Bank (BUD: OTPB / FRA: OTP / OTCMKTS: OTPBF) (ISIN HU0000061726, BUD:OTPB), Hungary's leading bank.
When it comes to MOL's equity, the valuation multiples of its stock are comparable to those of emerging market companies, such as Petrobas (NYSE: PBR / PBR-A) (ISIN BRPETRACNPR6, BR:PBR). Hungary does bear some hallmarks of emerging markets, such as a high inflation rate. On the other hand, it is a European country and a member of the EU.
I suspect that Hungary will offer some surprising finds, such as Kulcs-Soft (BUD: KSOFT / LON: 0MLL) (ISIN HU0000099387, BUD:KSOFT). The specialist for accounting software listed on the Budapest Stock Exchange in 2009, and has since grown its earnings per share at a compound annual growth rate of 19.1%. Kulcs-Soft has paid out every cent of its profits to shareholders as dividends, and not utilised debt or capital issuance.
As for Czech Republic economic data (see our Czech Republic ADRs page for more Czech stocks and investing resources):
To make your life easier, this post includes:
A quick description of the stock holding with links to the IR page and stock quote(s) on Yahoo! Finance.
A link to any Wikipedia page (for what it might be worth…)
Forward or trailing P/E and dividend yields linked back to the Yahoo! Finance statistics page.
The latest long term technical chart linked back to Yahoo! Finance.
And as always, this post is provided for informational purposes only (and to make your life easier by providing you with relevant information, links, and charts). It does not constitute investment advice and/or a recommendation…
Eastern Europe & Emerging Europe
🇦🇹 Austria
Erste Group Bank AG
Erste Group Bank AG (VIE: EBS / FRA: EBO / EBOR / ETR: EBO / OTCMKTS: EBKDY) was founded in 1819 as the first Austrian savings bank. 45,667 employees are serving 16 million clients in 2,005 branches in 7 countries. Erste Group is one of the largest financial services providers in Central and Eastern Europe.
Forward P/E: 5.56 / Forward Annual Dividend Yield: 5.84% (Yahoo! Finance)
OMV AG
OMV AG (VIE: OMV / FRA: OMVI / ETR: OMV / OTCMKTS: OMVKY / OMVJF) is Austria’s largest listed industrial company. As a global energy and chemicals company, they intend to become a leading provider of sustainable fuels, chemicals and materials by 2030 with a focus on circular economy solutions.
Forward P/E: 5.36 / Forward Annual Dividend Yield: 6.43% (Yahoo! Finance)
🇨🇿 Czech Republic
CEZ as
CEZ as (PSE: CEZ / WSE: CEZ / FRA: CEZ / OTCMKTS: CZAVF) is one of the leading economic entities in the Czech Republic that also operates in Western, Central, and South-Eastern Europe. The main subject of CEZ business endeavours is generation, distribution, trading, and sale of electricity and heat; trading and sale of natural gas; provision of comprehensive energy services from the new energy sector, and coal mining. CEZ Group is one of the ten largest energy companies in Europe.
Forward P/E: 13.44 / Forward Annual Dividend Yield: 14.76% (Yahoo! Finance)
