Foreign stocks trade on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in the form of American Depositary Receipts, or ADRs. The use of ADRs allows the stocks to trade and pay dividends in dollars, while the share certificates that back the ADRs are held in custodian banks. The top ADRs can be ranked by market capitalization or by value increases. Interestingly, many of the same stocks top both lists. All values and results are as of the end of 2009.
HSBC
British bank holding company HSBC is the largest company by free-float market capitalization on the BNY Mellon ADR index of all ADRs traded on the NYSE and Nasdaq. According to ADR Universe, a blog about ADR stocks listed in the U.S., HSBC had the fifth largest market cap gain of 2009, with $83 billion added to the company's value. The NYSE stock symbol for HSBC is HBC.
BP
BP, formerly known as British Petroleum, is No. 2 in size in the ADR index. BP is a favorite of income investors, paying a 6 percent dividend yield. The NYSE stock symbol is BP.
Total S.A.
Total S.A. is another oil and gas producer, from France. Third largest on the ADR index list, Total also pays a strong dividend, 5.5 percent in early 2010. Total's NYSE stock symbol is TOT.
Petrobras
Brazilian oil giant Petrobras had the greatest value gain of any ADR during 2009. The company's market capitalization increased by almost $115 billion. The strength of Brazil's currency, the real, helped Petrobras' value in dollar terms. On the NYSE, the Petrobras ADR is listed as PBR.
BHP Billiton
BHP Billiton is an Australian mining company. It had the second largest value gain among ADRs in 2009, and it is sixth in size on the ADR index list. Its market value increased by $85 billion in 2009, and the stock was a top performing ADR for the past decade. The NYSE stock symbol is BHP.
Banco Santander
While many large global banks had problems in 2009 with the world financial crisis, Spain's Banco Santander managed to add $62 billion to its stock market capitalization. The bank is the fourth largest ADR on the BNY Mellon index of ADRs. STD is its NYSE stock symbol.
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