24/7 Wall St.

2018 has been a strange time for investors. While the U.S. stock market sits close to all-time highs, many of the emerging and other developed markets nations have seen their shares take a beating. Wall Street analysts have made numerous calls signaling that there now may be more upside and opportunities in some larger international companies.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day of the week. The goal is simple enough: looking for new investing and trading ideas for investors and traders alike. It turns out the that September has seen many of the large and actively traded foreign stocks getting very positive analyst coverage for their New York-listed American depositary shares (ADSs).

Traditional analyst calls with Buy and Outperform ratings come with a total return prediction of 8% to 10% at this stage in the bull market. There may be more upside projected in some of these calls, but international stocks have the currency and international risks to consider, and we are in a time when international trading faces tariffs in the United States and other regulatory risks outside of it.

Additional commentary has been added on some of these analyst reports, along with trading history. Any consensus analyst price targets and other valuation metrics are from the Thomson Reuters sell-side research service.

ABB

ABB Ltd. (NYSE: ABB) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Citigroup on September 4. ABB’s ADSs were last seen trading at $23.40, in a 52-week range of $21.22 to $28.67. The listed consensus target price is $23.18 per ADS. The ADSs were down 13% so far in 2018.

While the industrial player is seen as having value, there was also positive commentary in the report about a return to growth for ABB on top of its 3.4% dividend yield. CFRA (S&P) also reiterated its Buy rating on ABB with a $27 target price on September 8, noting that it sees a positive long-term demand outlook driven by the energy and the so-called fourth industrial revolution.

BP

BP PLC (NYSE: BP) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight by Morgan Stanley on September 5. Its ADSs closed down almost 0.4% at $42.72 ahead of the call, and it was last seen trading at $42.30. BP’s 52-week trading range is $34.78 to $47.83 and its consensus target price was $49.08, and of course BP still has that monster dividend yield of about 5.8% in current terms.

Morgan Stanley feels that the shares are undervalued in comparison to its peers, and there is also the pending $10.5 billion or so acquisition of U.S. shale assets from BHP Billiton that is set to increase longer-term land-based income for BP. BP’s New York-listed shares were last seen with a flat performance in 2018.

Coca-Cola European Partners

Coca-Cola European Partners PLC (NYSE: CCE) was raised to Outperform and the price target was raised to $48 from $43 at Macquarie on September 4. It was given more upside based on improved Avon fundamentals plus a coming catalyst either from M&A opportunities or from special dividends.

The ADSs were last seen trading at $43.00, in a 52-week range of $36.17 to $43.13 and with a consensus target price last seen at roughly $44.00. The U.K.-based beverage maker serves roughly 300 million customers across Western Europe. Its ADSs were last seen up about 7% so far in 2018.

Novartis

Novartis A.G. (NYSE: NVS) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Merrill Lynch on September 10. Its local-currency price objective in Swiss francs was raised to CHF100 from CHF85. In New York, Novartis ADSs closed at $81.78 on Friday and were indicated up 1% at $82.66 on the call. They have a 52-week range of $72.30 to $94.19.

The Merrill Lynch team sees a new product cycle driving earnings growth for Novartis, with 10% earnings per share growth from 2020 to 2023. The firm also noted that an Alcon spin-out in the first half of 2019 is a likely positive event. Novartis’s ADSs were last seen down 2.6% so far in 2018.

Sanofi

Sanofi (NYSE: SNY) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Merrill Lynch on September 10 as well. The firm raised its local currency price objective to EUR95 from EUR80, noting that Sanofi is approaching a growth inflection. Sanofi ADSs closed at $42.09 on Friday and were indicated at $42.75 on Monday. The 52-week range is $37.43 to $50.65.

On Sanofi, Merrill Lynch feels a value of 11 times earnings is too low for its growth. Drivers there are in Dupixent, vaccines and consumer increasing into 2019. Sanofi’s ADSs are still up about 10% from their prices at the start of summer, but they are down about 2% from the start of 2018.

Ericsson

Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) was raised to Overweight from Neutral at JPMorgan on September 5. While price target data was not available, the upside is viewed as coming from 5G, and the report noted that its networks business and digital services have the most earnings momentum.

Ericsson’s ADSs have been challenging new highs not seen since the first half of 2016. With its ADSs at $8.60 on last look, the 52-week range is $5.52 to $8.79. That said, its consensus target price is down at $8.10, as many firms have maintained a somewhat cautious stance on the company. The ADSs were last seen up over 28% year to date.

Vodafone

Vodafone Group PLC (NASDAQ: VOD) has seen two positive analyst calls on the wireless and telecom asset in September. Bernstein raised it to Outperform from Market Perform on September 5. Then on September 6, Citigroup raised it to Buy from Neutral and noted that its shares have even further to run despite many problem areas. With an ADS price of $21.75, Vodafone has a 52-week range of $21.13 to $32.75 and a consensus analyst target just above $26. Vodafone was last seen down a sharp 32% year to date.