“Trading at a one-year forward price/earnings ratio (p/e) of 16.0x, shares – at first glance – seems expensive compared to its twenty-four year historical average of 13.9x. All the same, when compared with their record high p/e of 28.3x, the IBEX 35’s multiple would appear to have plenty of leeway to expand even though it seems fairly valued on a relative basis to the S&P Europe 350,” notes S&P Capital IQ.
However, the research firm points out that Spanish stocks trade at discounts to the peers in Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Luxembourg, Netherlands and Switzerland.
While there is not a currency hedged Spain ETF that allows investors to profit from downside in the euro and upside in Spanish equities, some multi-country currency hedged ETFs feature robust Spain exposure.
For example, the WisdomTree Europe Hedged Equity Fund (NYSEArca: HEDJ), this year’s top asset-gathering ETF, features Spain as its third-largest country allocation at a weight of 17.3%. The Deutsche X-trackers MSCI EMU Hedged Equity ETF (NYSEArca: DBEZ), the newest addition to the multi-country Eurozone currency hedged ETF group, has a Spain weight of 11.5%. [ETFs for Global Opportunities]
S&P Capital IQ rates HEDJ marketweight and EWP underweight. The note did not include ratings on QESP and DBEZ.
iShares MSCI Spain Capped ETF
