Some Greek stocks seen among prominent winners in Europe
LONDON (Reuters) – Stocks from Western Europe’s extremities such as Austria, Greece and Portugal rarely hit the continent’s headlines, but investors have long cottoned on to their winning potential and look set to reap yet more this year. Stocks such as Austria’s OMV and Greece’s Alpha Bank and gaming group OPAP are regularly among the top daily gainers in FTSEurofirst 300 index, a key European stock market benchmark. OMV was the FTSEurofirst 300’s top gainer in 2005, adding 123.3 percent thanks in part to soaring energy prices, helping Austria’s ATX index outstrip the rest of Europe with a 50 percent rise against the FTSEurofirst’s 23 percent. OPAP rose 40 percent in 2005, against Greece’s blue chip index jumping 33 percent. Portugal’s PSI20 index only gained 13.5 percent, but Millenium bcp bank and power company EDP added 23 and 19 percent respectively. Other FTSEurofirst stocks from the three countries fared less well but strategists are aware of the potential, with Greek telecoms OTE and Cosmote, Telekom Austria and EFG Eurobank among several banks’ top 2006 picks. «Eurobank is a high-quality growth story. We believe the current discounted valuation offers an unusually attractive entry point to the shares,» Merrill Lynch said in its 2006 outlook. «(On Cosmote) we believe we should see a continuation of the solid 2005 performance, with fast growth in the Balkans. At the same time, OTE should continue to benefit from Cosmote’s growth. «Telekom Austria’s fixed-line shares are increasing and it has a unique portfolio of southeast European assets,» it added.
