For those interested in investing in best ESG rated Russian stocks, there are good news: these companies, as a rule, pay good dividends. Moreover, their stocks are still quite cheap in terms of P/E ratio as compared to American/European analogues.
This analysis deals with three stocks among the top 20 Russian companies in terms of their ESG ranking, which was performed and updated by RAEX-Europe on May 14, 2021. The main criteria in this article, besides ESG performance, was dividend yield, P/E ratio and availability for purchase in the US.
1. Mobil’nye Telesistemy PAO ADR
- Description: the largest mobile network operator in Russia
- Market cap: 7.57B
- P/E: 9.23
- Price (hereinafter as of 05.14.21): 8.89
- ESG Ranking: 6
- Dividend yield: 10.94 %, which is higher than analogues: Verizon (NYSE:VZ), AT&T (NYSE:T
Unfortunately, Mobil’nye Telesistemy (NYSE:MBT) is the only stock in the present analysis which trades on NYSE. Still, the others (see below) can be bought by placing orders on the over-the-counter (OTC) market. True, in doing so, there is a risk of investing in a less liquid marketplace where it's harder to determine a fair price, and trading volumes may be sparse. Still, these are well-known, financially stable companies with good ESG ranking and high dividends, which have to be mentioned within the present research:
2. Gazprom
- Description: Gazprom (OTC:OGZRY) is a Russian majority state-owned multinational energy corporation, one of the largest publicly-listed natural gas company in the world.
- Market cap: 79.47B
- P/E: 43.97
- Price: 6.70
- ESG Ranking: 14
- Dividend yield: 6.21 %, a little bit higher than the analogue: Exxon Mobil Corp (NYSE:XOM
3. Polyus PAO
- Description: Polyus (OTC:OPYGY) is a Russian gold mining company. The largest gold producer in Russia and one of the top 10 gold mining companies globally by output
- Market cap: 27.24B
- P/E: 16.95
- Price: 103.50
- ESG Ranking: 17
- Dividend yield: 4.21 %, higher than the analogue: Newmont Goldcorp Corp (NYSE:NEM?
Definitely, this list of stocks is limited and it can be continued. However, the article provides an insight into ESG-ranked Russian companies, which, as it has been demonstrated above, have growth potential, pay good dividends and can help to make a portfolio better-balanced geographically.