The Canadian stock market offers investors many outstanding companies that could generate excellent returns over time. However, diversifying into international markets could be beneficial to Canadian investors for two reasons. For one, it could help your portfolio stay afloat if the Canadian economy ever takes a major hit. Second, it could open the door to great companies that operate in industries that aren’t very prevalent in Canada. With that said, here are three great foreign companies to invest in right now!
Start with this three-headed beast
If I could only buy one foreign company for the next decade, it would be Sea Limited (NYSE: SE). This is because Sea Limited operates in three very exciting industries. Those are the esports, e-commerce, and digital payment industries. Of those three business segments, I believe Shopee, its e-commerce segment, is the most promising.
In the third quarter (Q3) of 2022, Sea Limited reported an impressive year-over-year (YoY) increase of 17.4% in its quarterly revenue. That was largely driven by Shopee, which experienced a 32.4% YoY increase in revenue. It’s important to note that consumers around the world have seen a slowdown in terms of spending due to high inflation. If this is the kind of growth that Shopee can put up in a slow economy, I’m very eager to see the growth it’ll show once consumers start spending again. Keep an eye on this company during the holiday shopping season.
A top e-commerce company
Another e-commerce company worth considering today would be MercadoLibre (NASDAQ: MELI). Already the largest e-commerce platform in South America, MercadoLibre made headlines for its outstanding performance over the Black Friday promotion week. Sales generated between November 21 to 27, saw a YoY increase of 19% compared to last year. MercadoLibre also reported growth in all of its main categories, including consumer electronics and fashion.
An outstanding growth stock, MercadoLibre has fallen about 34% since the start of the year. It should be noted, however, that the stock already sits about 44% higher than its 2022 lows. With investors continuing to be impressed by this company’s strong growth, I believe we could see MercadoLibre trading at higher prices over the next year. Like Sea Limited, the holiday shopping season will be very important for this company.
One of the most recognizable companies in the world
If you’re reading this article on a desktop or laptop, it’s very likely that Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) is helping you do that. As of this writing, Windows holds a 75% share of the desktop operating system market. To put that into perspective, Apple’s OS X platform holds the next largest market share at about 16%. This dominance in the operating system space doesn’t even account for other Microsoft products, such as Xbox, Office, and Azure.
Since the start of the year, Microsoft stock hasn’t been immune to the downturn that’s affected many growth stocks. Investors have seen shares fall about 25%. However, looking at the big picture, Microsoft stock is still sitting on a gain of more than 190% over the past five years. With an 11% YoY increase in its quarterly revenue, as reported in its latest earnings report, I believe Microsoft could continue to grow reliably over time.
