Tag Archives: manufacturing

The Stock Market’s Best Shot? A Fed Promise To Move Slower Than A 3-Toed Sloth

Uncle Sam is spending borrowed dollars at an alarming clip, guaranteeing that higher and higher percentages of total tax revenue will be used for debt servicing. If the Federal Reserve hikes borrowing costs, consumers will have to pay more to service adjustable loans and mortgages; businesses will have to pay more to service the interest on corporate bonds. Until investors learn the what, when and why of Fed policy guidance, riskier assets will remain volatile. Consumers, as opposed to manufacturers, represent two-thirds of the U.S. economy. Indeed, Americans love to splurge. We buy sneakers, iPhones, home furnishings, real estate, cars, jewelry, concert tickets, and meals at our favorite restaurants. We even buy chew toys for our pets. Many of us, however, do not have enough cash saved up to acquire the things that we want when we want them. So we borrow. We satisfy our cravings through instruments of debt – credit cards, mortgages, “refis,” equity lines and school loans. Like consumers, there are scores of corporations that borrow more than they should and gorge when ultra-low interest rates beckon. How do companies do it? They issue low-yielding bonds to yield-seeking investors. Theoretically, companies can use the newfound dollars on research, development, marketing, equipment and human resources. In 2015, though, public corporations are spending an estimated 28% of their available cash on acquiring shares of their stock. That’s the highest percentage since 2007. Why do companies buy so much of their own stock in what the investing community calls “share buybacks?” Less stock in the marketplace limits supply, boosts the perception of profitability per share and artificially boosts buyer demand; prices tend to move higher. Stock prices rise in the early stages of accelerating corporate share buybacks. For instance, in the bull market of 2002-2007, public companies committed more and more of their total cash; the higher the prices moved, the less shares that corporate borrowed dollars could afford. As buybacks peaked in 2007, they rapidly descended during the 2008-2009 financial collapse. Now look at the current economic recovery since the 2nd quarter of 2009. Share buybacks have been on a strong upward trajectory, pushing stock market benchmarks to new heights. In fact, one of the big reasons that so many executives have been lobbying the U.S. Federal Reserve to hold off on hiking borrowing costs in September is because those costs would adversely impact the financing of stock buybacks at ultra-low bond yields. Are consumers and corporations the only groups that salivate over ultra-low interest rates? Hardly. The federal government debt is rapidly approaching $19 trillion. In particular, obligations have grown by approximately $8 trillion since the recovery’s inception – a pace that is more than twice as fast as the growth of the U.S. economy itself. That’s right. Uncle Sam is spending borrowed dollars at an alarming clip, guaranteeing that higher and higher percentages of total tax revenue will be used for debt servicing. (Recognize that nobody believes in the notion that debts could ever be paid back.) Why might this be troublesome at this particular moment? The Federal Reserve has wanted to hike borrowing costs as early as mid-September. And that means that Uncle Sam will likely be paying higher rates to service the interest charges on its treasury bonds very soon. What’s more, if the Federal Reserve hikes borrowing costs, consumers will have to pay more to service adjustable loans and mortgages; businesses will have to pay more to service the interest on corporate bonds. The probable result? The economy slows and possibly contracts such that Uncle Sam brings in less-than-anticipated tax revenue. Indeed, the Fed has been spooking markets with its desire to move toward “rate normalization.” If committee members spoke candidly about a more realistic intention – a plan to move no more than 1% off of the zero percent anchor by the end of 2016 – there would be an end game that global investors could factor into decision making. Instead, there is fear that the Fed is misreading the tea leaves on the health of the U.S. economy as well as fear that the central bank would move to far in the wrong direction. Consider the manufacturing slowdown – the “less important” one-third of the U.S. economy. Does anyone doubt that U.S. manufacturing has suffered due to the global manufacturing slowdown and the outright recessions in places like Canada, Brazil and parts of the euro-zone? The recent jobs report by ADP confirms it. Of the 190,000 jobs created, 173,000 received the tag of “service-providing” whereas a meager 17,000 had been deemed “goods-producing.” Should we dismiss that oil giant Conoco Phillips (NYSE: COP ) is laying off 10% of its global workforce? What about critical metrics such as factory new orders and product shipments? The percentages for both are negative on a year-over year basis. Global manufacturing woes did not just hit the investment markets in August; rather, the declines have been developing in key economic sectors since the fourth quarter of 2014. Every significant manufacturer-dependent sector in the exchange-traded investing world- the iShares Transportation Average ETF (NYSEARCA: IYT ), the Industrials Select Sector SPDR ETF (NYSEARCA: XLI ), the Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF (NYSEARCA: XLE ), the Materials Select Sector SPDR ETF (NYSEARCA: XLB ) – is down 10% or more year-to-date. It follows that the U.S. economy is even more dependent on the consumer than it ought to be. And by extension, consumer credit as well as service-oriented business credit become more critical than they might otherwise be. And what affects credit more than the Federal Reserve? Until investors learn the what, when and why of Fed policy guidance, riskier assets will remain volatile. Intra-day price swings of 300 points on the Dow? We should feel lucky if it remains that subdued. As regular readers already know, I began reducing client exposure to risk before the mid-August price plunge. We raised cash/cash equivalents in our accounts . Those levels are roughly 25% for moderate growth investors. The cash is there to reduce portfolio volatility, minimize depreciation in portfolios and provide opportunity to buy quality assets at lower prices. We also have 25% allocated to investment-grade income. Whereas moderate risk clients may typically have 65%-75% in stocks, we gradually reduced that level to 50% across June and July. Our reasons for the tactical asset allocation shift? I presented them in ” A Market Top? 15 Warning Signs ” when the S&P 500 traded in and around the 2100 level. The 50% allocated to stock is spread across a variety of large-cap U.S. ETFs, including but not limited to, the iShares S&P 100 ETF (NYSEARCA: OEF ), the Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF (NYSEARCA: VYM ), the Health Care Select Sector SPDR ETF (NYSEARCA: XLV ) and the Vanguard Mid-Cap Value ETF (NYSEARCA: VOE ). Disclosure: Gary Gordon, MS, CFP is the president of Pacific Park Financial, Inc., a Registered Investment Adviser with the SEC. Gary Gordon, Pacific Park Financial, Inc, and/or its clients may hold positions in the ETFs, mutual funds, and/or any investment asset mentioned above. The commentary does not constitute individualized investment advice. The opinions offered herein are not personalized recommendations to buy, sell or hold securities. At times, issuers of exchange-traded products compensate Pacific Park Financial, Inc. or its subsidiaries for advertising at the ETF Expert web site. ETF Expert content is created independently of any advertising relationships.

Vestas Wind Systems’ (VWDRY) CEO Anders Runevad on Q2 2015 Results – Earnings Call Transcript

Executives Anders Runevad – Group President & CEO Marika Fredriksson – EVP & CFO Analysts David Vos – Barclays Pinaki Das – Bank of America Merrill Lynch Claus Almer – Carnegie Alok Katre – Societe Klaus Kehl – Nykredit Markets Sean McLoughlin – HSBC Shai Hill – Macquarie Patrik Setterberg – Nordea Jose Arroyas – Exane Vestas Wind Systems A/S ADR ( OTCPK:VWDRY ) Q2 2015 Earnings Conference Call August 19, 2015 4:00 AM ET Anders Runevad So, good morning, everyone and welcome to this second quarter report. As usual, I appreciate everyone that has called in. So let us start the usual disclaimer statement, and then – let me then start with the highlights overall. I’m really satisfied with the quarter. It is a strong execution on our profitable growth strategy. Order intake really strong at approximately 3 gigawatts, up 56% year-over-year. The order backlog close to €17 billion, actually the largest order backlog ever for Vestas, also very encouraging. The value creation continues, ROIC increased to 55%, also that on record level. Earnings continued to improve, EBIT before special items over €145 million, up 39% year-on-year, and also a continued strong cash flow impacting by an increasing cash flow from operating activities. So, again a lot of highlights in the quarter and a very strong execution. As usual then, the agenda for today, I will start talking about orders and markets, Marika, our CFO, will guide you through the financials, and then I will come back on the summary and outlook, and then we will open for Q&A. So let me start then with the regulatory environment that we view as generally supportive. We see strong support or solid support both for renewable energy and ambition to reduce CO2 levels. Starting then with Americas, the Tax Extenders Bill, including a two year PTC extension passed in the Senate finance committee with a solid majority vote. This is the first step and there are more to come, but it is a positive signal. Also a bit more long-term, the President Obama’s Clean Power Plan to reduce the carbon emission by 32% by 2030 is more a long-term positive signal. Looking at the EMEA region then, Germany, as we have talked before, continues the transition from a set feed-in tariff system to an auction system. The draft paper has been released, and what is positive is that the renewable energy ambitions are intact. In France, a new energy law was passed that will cut greenhouse gas emissions to 40% by 2030, and estimates are that that will be bring renewable to 32%. On the negative side is in the UK, where the government has proposed to end the onshore support one year earlier than previously planned. In Asia-Pacific, we have had almost two years of uncertainty as the RET targets has been discussed. What is positive now is that the target has been adopted by the Australian parliament and that should mean that we see some increased activity in that market. [Indiscernible], I would say China, India and several other markets we see a continued support for renewables. As I said, order intake, one of the key highlights for the quarter, very strong at 3 gigawatts and a 56% increase year-over-year. US offshore, the 3 MW platform, Mexico, Germany and Chile were the main contributors in Q2, accounting for almost 80% of the increase. If you look at the average selling prices of order intake in million euro per megawatt, we see a stable development in the quarter as we have seen actually in the last several quarters. You should remember that price per megawatt depends on a number of different factors, the scope, the turbine type, and of course, the uniqueness of the offering. Moving on down through order intake, we see improvement mainly in Latin America, US offshore, Poland and China, but I must say very broad-based we see good progress on order intake from a number of different markets. If you look at the first half, let me start with Americas, up 74%, so very solid growth driven by US, Brazil, Mexico and Chile and in the quarter then up 81%, so actually even stronger. EMEA also very positive development, for the first half up 37%, again driven by offshore, Nordics, Poland, Turkey and Germany and also in the quarter then up 53%. Asia Pacific, from a lower level up 24% for the first half of the year, again as I talked about during Q1, to a large extent due to China. And then in the quarter then a smaller quarter for Asia Pacific, so down 67%. Also worth mentioning that new markets for Vestas in top 5 for the first half is Brazil, Poland and China. A key competitive advantage for us is our global reach. I have talked to that before, and that is something that we all leverage on and we will continue to leverage going forward. Also proven in the first half, where we have taken 4.8 gigawatts of orders, very well balanced and broad in 27 countries and 5 continents. What enables our global reach besides our manufacturing footprint, and of course, the market presence in services, is really our broad well proven product portfolio. Our order intake was fairly equal between all 2 MW and 3 MW portfolio for the first half. And Vestas offers a broad range of turbines for all wind classes. On the 2 MW side, we have four models actively selling in the market, where we see a very solid demand, especially the V110, that is a flagship model, in the US. On the 3 MW platform, we have five models, with different power ratings, rotor size, and we continue to develop this platform, for example the V126, a perfect match for [Indiscernible] for medium to low wind. And also with features that fulfils specific market requirements, such as the [Indiscernible] large diameter steel towers and this is also part of the offshore application and offering. Traditionally 3 MW has been used in land constrained markets. But with increased energy production and cost efficiency we see a clear trend, where 3 MW is taking share in more traditional 2 MW markets, and one such an example is in Q2, where we have taken a number of big 3 MW orders in the US, a traditional 2 MW market, and we see – we expect this trend to continue. Looking at delivery then was up 35% in the first half. Sorry, the microphone was a bit – so I have adjusted that now. Hope you can hear me. So as I said delivery up 35% for the first half, solid growth in Americas and Asia-Pacific and EMEA stable. Starting with Americas then, up 85% six month and 151% quarter-on-quarter, very much driven by the US, up almost 650 MW. EMEA, as I said stable. Talked about Germany last call, and as expected we see a slight decline in the German market on delivery this year, but at the same time that is compensated with the increases in markets such as Turkey, Finland, Italy, and we should of course remember that we continue to see an overall good level in more mature markets like France and Germany. Actually in Q2, Turkey was our biggest market in EMEA when it comes to delivery, again showing the importance of a global reach. In Asia-Pacific, we saw solid development both in the first half and in the quarter, up 162% and 69% driven by primarily China and to some extent Australia. As I talked about before, we sit on a order backlog that is the highest ever, close to €17 billion and we see an increase of €1.9 billion, turbines on €1.3 billion and services on €0.6 billion. Some more words then about the US market, we continue to see a very high activity level, and I am very confident with all precision in the US market. We have frame agreements with a potential of up to 2.3 gigawatts, and year-to-date order intake is 1.7 gigawatts, approximately 40% within the frame agreements and therefore 60% outside. Looking at the Mitsubishi Vestas Offshore Wind performance, we see also positive development. It is well received by the customers and we can see that in the order situation with firm orders of 681 MW, conditional orders close to 500 MW, and also announced the third supplier agreement of 1.8 gigawatts. We’re also progressing according to plan. I have talked about before that the basis for the joint venture was a milestone agreement with both technical and commercial milestones that has now been fulfilled. There is actually just one payment left of the 12.5, so all other milestones has been met. Manufacturing is ramping up of the V164 8 MW and the Burbo Bank project will be the first and installation is expected to start in the beginning of ’16. So with that I will leave over to the financials and Marika. Marika Fredriksson Thank you, Anders. So if we have a look at the income statement and some of the KPIs that we have for the company, you can see that the earnings continued to improve in the quarter. We had a revenue increase of 30% compared to last year that is obviously driven by the higher volume but also impact from currency. And when I talk about income from currency, you will recall that it is translation impact as we report in euro. The gross profit in absolute values obviously improved by the volume by 21%. We continue to deliver a solid gross profit in the quarter of 18%, although lower compared to last year, but again that was an exceptional quarter in terms of positive mix. Fixed cost, we will get back to in one of the coming slides, but we continue to deliver well and leveraging our fixed cost effort in previous years, so the primary increase comes from currency, but also higher activity level in the company. Consequently we deliver a higher EBIT before special items, and that leads us to an EBIT margin of 8.3% compared to 7.8% last year. Net profit also you see a good improvement of 33% in absolute values. I should just mention here also on the income from investments, that is our joint venture with Mitsubishi, that Anders just took you through, and you have a slight profit in the joint venture in itself, but the primary part is really that the project we have sold to the joint-venture now has a transfer of risk and consequently you will see a positive impact, but it is still below EBIT and we are just following the accounting principles here. So that leads me to how we leverage on the fixed cost. We have, as we have spoke about previously a very tight control of our fixed cost. We have increased activity level continuously since we took down the cost, so you saw a higher activity level in 2014 and that also continues now in ’15. Despite that we have a very tight control of our fixed capacity costs and we are now down to 8.4% of revenue. So the primary increase really comes from currency as I just alluded to earlier and to some extent also from the higher activity level, but we are very happy with the performance. If you go to the service margin, you will see the service increased compared to last year by 20%, and as you remember that is one of the key parameters in our strategy going forward. So we definitely continue to execute on that strategy. Margins are solid. We have an EBIT before special items of 16.8%. Please bear in mind here that we have some one-timers in the cost and as the revenue in the service business is smaller than the turbine business, a 2 million to 3 million extraordinary item in the fixed capacity cost has an impact. But that is the primary reason for a slightly lower margin. You will see continue to see fluctuations in the quarter, but we deliver a high solid margin in the service business. We have a very strong order backlog and that continues to grow. As you saw on Anders previous flight, we also have an average duration of the service order of approximately 8 years. So a very good lifecycle security in the service backlog. If we go to the balance sheet, which is obviously also one of the parameters that we are tracking and continuously improve, we have a very strong balance sheet right now, and we have a big focus on the balance sheet. We have great performance as you can see on the net working capital, we are in negative territory despite the high activity level in the company. I will come back to some of the details in that improvement. You will also see that we have net debt that is very positive. So we are definitely tracking on our key parameters for the company. We also have a solvency ratio that improved compared to ’14, we haven’t still met our target of 35% with a very solid improvement and solvency ratio obviously also have an impact as we have a very portion of prepayments in the company right now because of high order intake. I will come back to the overall cash at hand in one of the coming slides, but very good performance both on the P&L and the balance sheet. If we go to some of the changes you see in the net working capital, I have said to you before that we continue the working capital project. We have been very good in keeping our tight control from previous years, when we were more challenged. So we have not changed the approach. The work in progress, in particular the process for work in progress, has stayed and continues to be very good. In the last three months, and also the last 12 months, we because of high activity level have a high portion of prepayments. We also have a high portion of payables and obviously that helps our working capital. So a very, very positive development. It has improved more than we have anticipated to be very clear. Warranty provisions, which is on the next page and the lost production factor continues at a good level. You see that we are providing more than what we consume. Just to be very specific here, we follow the same principle that we had in 2014. So there is no changes to the percentage that we provide for in 2015. The lost production factor is a reflection of our good quality work that we have in the company, and we continue our journey to be below 2% on a very consistent basis. If you look at the cash flow statement, and here I also said in the last quarter that you see the cash flow from operating activities continues to be the main contributor. Obviously that has been the focus area for us and you also see the change in net working capital here having a positive impact. I should just say here that this is excluding any currency. So it is free from currency on the working capital. And free cash flow that we deliver is consequently 183 million. The cash flow from financing activities is primarily our payment of dividend in April. If you go to the total investments, we announced in Q1 that we had an intention of increasing to 3.50. We’re trailing below that as of now, but we have anticipated that we will consume the 3.50 that we have put forward. That again is primary to meet our high activity level and the high demand in the market right now. And it is primary investments in [molds], so as you remember, the [molds] are movable, but it is also in our R&D and the capitalized R&D is approximately one third of the Capex that you see. The capital structure, you will remember, the two targets we have, net debt to EBITDA below 1 and also solvency ratio of 35. As you see, we’re tracking well on the net debt to EBITDA. The solvency ratio is lower than 35%. We are still happy with the two targets, and we also understand and respect that we have a very strong balance sheet at this point. Obviously with a strong balance sheet we have a lot of flexibility, we also have a big and solid possibility to execute on our strategy and invest in the strategy if need be. And what you can see now is that we have calculated and are confident on the cash we need over the cycles. So it is not a short-term cash need. It is over the cycle, and we will consequently have excess cash that will be primarily invested in the execution of the strategy. Having said that, we are not ruling out a dividend or a share buyback. The next slide show I would say the amazing journey on the return on invested capital. We are approaching 55%. This is a consequence of the focus on earnings and also the balance sheet improvement that you have seen in the past. So 54.6% is the accurate number for the quarter. So a very, very good performance that we are very happy with. By that I leave the summary and outlook to Anders. Anders Runevad Thank you, Marika. So let me then summarize the quarter. So again a strong quarter executing on our strategy. We will look at all four strategic objectives starting with growth in mature and emerging markets and growth in the market see a very good performance, high order intake and largest ever combined order backlog. On the service business, also good progress on the strategy of growing the service business more than 30% midterm, a good increase in revenue in the quarter, backlog increasing, and we see a good trend on the average duration of our service contracts. On the reduced level of cost of energy, which is of course, all about the competitiveness of our portfolio, we see a strong performance across both the 2 MW and 3 MW platforms, and as I said it is important for Vestas and it is important to have a offering for all different wind classes. On R&D, we continue to invest as we have done before in new releases of both of our platforms. We have a number of operational excellence programs, of course, ultimately with the aim to improve earning capability and we see the value creation continue with ROIC at 55%. [Indiscernible] And also a well-managed operation during high activity levels. All in all, we continue to leverage on our key three competitive advantages, global reach, technology and service leadership and scale. And to summarize this after Q2, on the global reach side, we are present in 74 counties across all wind classes. On technology and services, as I talked about, the depth of our product portfolio is what enables this global reach and the lost production factor firmly now below 2%, we feel is industry leading, and it is of course a combination of the quality of our product and the service offering. And on the scale, we’re now at approximately 70 gigawatts of installed base and of course a very solid order backlog. Moving on to the outlook and outlook is unchanged from the upgrade we made in May this year, and we also maintain a minimum guidance on revenue, EBIT and cash flow. So for revenue, a minimum €7.5 billion, service business as before, also unchanged, I expect it to continue to grow. EBIT margin before special items of minimum 8.5% and here also as before the service business is expected to have stable margins. Total investment approximately €350 million and a free cash flow of minimum €600 million. And as , the dividend policy we have and the board’s intention is to recommend a dividend of 25% to 30% of the net result of the year. So with that we are ending the presentation and can start the Q&A. Question-and-Answer Session Operator Thank you. [Operator Instructions] Our first question is from the line of [Indiscernible] of Danske Bank. Please go ahead with your questions. Your line is open. Unidentified Analyst Yes, thank you. First question is regarding free cash flow, if we look at the past two years, you have delivered a much stronger free cash flow in the second half of the year, versus the first year free cash flow guidance of at least 600 million, so implicitly to reach that lower end of the minimum level you are guiding for a lower cash flow in the second half. I understand that it is the minimum guidance, so my question is there anything that makes you believe that this seasonal pattern in inventory we have seen in the past few years will not be repeated this year, or anything else that would drag down free cash flow in the second half of the year? Marika Fredriksson Well, first of all, if you look at the working capital as we have highlighted before, the focus continues, and as I said, we have performed even better than we have anticipated for this year. So clearly all the activities that we have in the working capital and primarily the process changes we see in the work in progress have really improved the overall situation. We have – because of high order intake we have a large proportion of down payments. We also have a higher payable because of simply high activity level in the company. So in a way we have as I said performed better. We obviously see what we always see in the second half, a very high activity level. That high activity level causes some – for us to be a bit cautious because you will see weather having an impact, you will grid having an impact, so the minimum 600 is as you have stated, a minimum guidance, but it is also a best estimate for what we know right now. But first half has certainly performed better than we anticipated. Unidentified Analyst Okay, then my second question is regarding the profit from the MHI Vestas joint venture, these 27 million, can you help us understand what volume lies behind this deliveries with transfer of risk that you mentioned? Marika Fredriksson I am not sure about the exact value, but if you recall, we had a negative impact when we sold the projects and it is the 3 MW obviously to the joint venture of approximately 30 million on the items below the EBIT, and as they now have – I don’t have this exact value for you, but I am sorry for that, but to give you some perspective, we had a profit in the joint-venture of approximately 8 million, so we obviously had our 50% of that included in the 27, but the vast majority is really transfer of risk, but I don’t have the exact project for you. So you can return to IR. They would have – be able to provide that. Unidentified Analyst Sure, and then what should we expect for the full year on this line? Marika Fredriksson We haven’t anticipated because that will obviously be more of a joint-venture as it doesn’t reflect on our EBIT. Unidentified Analyst Okay. Thank you. Marika Fredriksson Thank you. Operator Our next question is from the line of [Indiscernible]. Please go ahead. Your line is open. Unidentified Analyst Thanks a lot. My first question relates to the gross margin development, sales up 30% and cost of goods sold up 30%, normally we would expect to see a bit more leverage when sales improve, this development that we are seeing here in Q2, is this a reflection of a can you say, not too fortunate mix in the quarter or is it more a reflection of Q2 last year being extremely strong? Marika Fredriksson Well, I would say it is a combination of both. So clearly last year we had very, very good performance. This year we have a good volume, but less favorable mix. So the volume clearly offset some of the good impact from the higher volume that we see, but still bear in mind that the 18% that we deliver is a really solid margin although lower compared to last year. Unidentified Analyst [Indiscernible] Second question, you mentioned that you are seeing a fairly stable enterprise for MW development, but we have seen some of your competitors talk a bit about pricing pressure, can you give a few comments on what you see in the market and in competitive behavior in a broader perspective also, thanks? Anders Runevad Yes, now but you are right. We – overall, of course, we see a solid market across many different countries. When it comes to the price levels, we see stable pricing and so I can’t really speak for the competition, but what we see is stable pricing overall, and no specific geographical differences either, so actually across the markets. Unidentified Analyst But are you sensing that your competitors are trying to catch orders through pricing in a more aggressive way than maybe six months ago? Anders Runevad No, not generically speaking. I mean, of course, you will always have projects here and there, but nothing that you can see as a trend or anything like that. No. Unidentified Analyst Okay, thank you. Operator We now go to the line of David Vos at Barclays. Please go ahead. Your line is open. David Vos Good morning to both. I have two questions if I may, you made reference to having done some calculations around the cash levels that are very good for the business, I may have missed a number there, but if you haven’t given that already could you kind of indicate where you see that kind of normalized cash level that will be helpful. And my second question is around the quite positive remarks you made on the front of the regulatory support that the wind industry continues to enjoy, to my mind that now takes away some of the volatility that we have seen in the past to a degree at least. My question to you is does that also mean that you would perhaps be more willing to commit to some longer term targets as the visibility has increased? Marika Fredriksson Okay. If we start with your first question, I guess that what you are referring to is the working capital? David Vos No, I actually I heard you say that you have done some calculations about the cash level that is required in the business. Marika Fredriksson Okay, sorry. Then I misunderstood you. Yes, I did. Obviously internally we have done that calculation. I will not share that fully transparently with you, but we have a cash level that we are happy with over the cycle and we will continue to be prudent. It is a cash intense business when you start consuming cash. But we will certainly have excess cash is what I was very clear on that. We will be invested in our strategic targets and enable us to execute further on the strategy. But we’re not as I said also ruling out a dividend and a share buyback from Vestas side. That is not entirely a management decision. As it will be a board decision, but we are not ruling out that. David Vos Okay, maybe as a follow-up for the second question then, investing in the business and into the strategy, how do we think about that, where would that money be deployed, and is that purely an organic strategy or will that perhaps also have an inorganic component to it? Marika Fredriksson Well, primarily what we’re looking at and also what you see us deliver operationally is organic growth and organic growth is our primary focus. So when I talk about investing in the business it is primarily to deliver and execute on the strategy organically. But you also know that we have certain focus areas where we have less presence, so you would see countries like India, we have started investing in Brazil, for example. So there is definitely places where we can continue to invest and further execute on the strategy. David Vos Excellent. Anders Runevad A bit about your second question, on the regulatory support, so that is definitely what we see, a stronger support for renewable in most markets, not all, but in most markets, and of course we also have a bit more for the longer term, the COP21 coming up. Having said that it is, of course, very, very hard to forecast political support. It also tends to change every now and again, depending on the political parties or the [Indiscernible] support, of course it is something that is very, very hard to forecast for the future, but again if I look at the current regulatory environment it is positive. Some of that are very concrete that we of course, also discussed, like for example, the support mechanism in individual countries to [say] international levels and so on. And some of these things are of course much more long-term ambitious than hard targets that we can translate to renewable market share. But it’s moving in the right direction, what we also should remember, it moves in the right direction at the same time is of course the competitiveness and we then – and that is for us then the primary focus. I am a strong believer of controlling what you can control and influence where you have the most influence and what we can do in order to have a market that is easier to predict also long-term and of course increase the market share is to continue to drive down the cost of energy for wind. And that’s of course the other part and that plays a big role in our strategy. We will — as every year do strategy seminar in September where we look ahead for the next three years. And if we after that have anything else to share on that we will definitely do so. David Vos Many thanks. Operator Next question is from the line of Pinaki Das of Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Please go ahead, your line is open. Pinaki Das Hey good morning. Good morning everybody. Thanks for taking my questions. My first question is on guidance, you’ve kept your guidance unchanged I guess the market is sort of looking — not sort of very happy about that guidance that you haven’t changed the guidance despite actually having very good performance in the first half. So, I just wanted to either check a couple of things if somebody has already asked about the [CF] clearly looks – your guidance looks quite conservative on that side, but even on revenues , if you take the last two or three years , typically you do only about less than 40% of your revenues in the first half and clearly sort of Q4 is quite big. So if I just use the ratios that happened in the last four years it should be somewhere between 8 billion and 8.5 billion of revenues already for this year and if that is true then clearly your gross profit was somewhat less than expected or the growth in – gross profit was less than expected, but if you have more than 8 billion of revenues then clearly there is operating leverage as well. And on top of that this probably that in benefit of lower input costs for example steel or just generally the commodity macro, but I just wanted to understand why haven’t you changed your guidance or is it that you want to see more progress in the next few months before actually updating your guidance? Anders Runevad Okay, so let me start and then see if Marika will want to add something. But, I mean overall of course, we are very comfortable with our position. We have a very strong orders backlog, so of course we anticipate a high activity level. We are also early in the year still we expect the seasonality in the business as we have seen before and that also means that we have other uncertainties that we have seen previous years on the later part of the year with a high activity level. And uncertainty is of course very much sort of within the calendar year. We have this Catch-22 environment where we have a lot of delivery and transfer risk and probably recognize the revenue and we do that in areas with a lot of wind, because that’s the [indiscernible] for us and that’s – at the same time of course where we are very dependent that that we can execute the projects towards the end of the year. So that is an uncertainty that and that’s why we maintain or be at safe or remain the guidance from May this year. The other thoughts – the equation and we have a high activity level as I said, we increased delivery about 35% to 40% last year, we increased delivery again for the first half to 35%, so of course we are running on a high activity ramp up plan. We are delivering according to that plan which I think is very obvious in the performance that we have had so far. But of course, it is a plan where you have risks I feel again comfortable with our ramp up plan both with number of people and material but we also of course are dependent on sub suppliers on that we get all the material in at the time that we need to get it in into the supply-chain, so that we can execute in the timely matter. One such example of sort of unforeseen events is of course the accident that has been in China very recently. And we of course have a manufacturing facility in China, the good news is that the manufacture is not affected its bit away from the Tianjin port area so it’s not affected at all and also of course very good that’s known of the Vestas same place are affected. We have also been lucky in the sense that our blade that was ready for shipment was actually porting in different harbor in the same port, so they are not affected and they will go it as planned, but we have an uncertainty in sub supplier components coming into that harbor that we have currently then working through and evaluating. So I must say that’s one example of fairly unforeseen event that good news is that nothing has been affected by manufacturing capability but we obviously can’t rule out some sort of delay at this point in time. Pinaki Das And what about the sort of 8 billion to 8.5 billion of revenues where you are just looking at last few years trends at least at, if that analysis valid or would you still stick to the 7.5 billion? And also I mean just on that front, you obviously are doing much more supply only installations front does that change the sort of risk profile? Marika Fredriksson Well I mean I cannot – I will not – disagree with your calculation obviously the pattern with the investors and the industry is that you have a higher activity level in the second half. Yes, hope we will have a certain impact on the revenue for sure, but what we – I mean what you are referring to is obviously the [indiscernible] if everything works our job is obviously to see what make the stimulation what if and therefore we have chosen to stick here with the guidance that we have and please bear in mind it is a minimum guidance. Pinaki Das My second question is just relating to sort of input costs, , clearly we’ve seen the commodity macro going down quite significantly, how does that affect your input costs and you’ve already mentioned that pricing is – been probably stable , how do you benefit from lower commodity prices have you already seen it in some of your numbers or you yet to see it in the next few quarters and probably how do your contracts work with your suppliers and sort of end customers? Marika Fredriksson Well obviously, the product cost is high on the agenda when it comes to commodities it’s also dependent on how you have purchased whether you are on spot or if you potentially would store some of it, with the team that we have certainly have the focus and they continue to leverage on the commodity pricing as it sits right now. Obviously that is also dependent on volumes, so you will see impacts in lumps but that is part of the program that is running within the purchasing area. Pinaki Das Is it fair to say that you would benefit from the lower commodity macro if you are pricing in stable? Marika Fredriksson I mean if we would be right in the timing of purchasing, yes we would definitely benefit from it yes. Pinaki Das Okay, thank you. Marika Fredriksson Thank you. Operator We now go to the line of Claus Almer of Carnegie. Please go ahead with your question. Claus Almer Thanks. I have two questions one is about the cost space and one is about the product mix in the quarter. As you showed Marika in the slides that your fix costs base has been, looking rather nicely over the last couple of quarters on 12 months rolling basis. But if you compare Q2 to Q1 is actually an increase. Is that effects or is just it was a high activity level as you said and should we expect the Q2 levels to continue rest of the year? That will be the first question. Marika Fredriksson So basically what I try to say Klaus is that company’s high focus obviously we have a negative impact, translation impact from the strong dollar right now on our fix capacity costs. But having said that we also have a certain portion although less simply because of higher activity level. But overall we are very strict and as I said we are extremely cautious on making sure that we leverage on all the efforts we have done to get the fixed capacity down. But as Anders said, I mean also in terms of activity level both last year and this year. I think we have been extremely good at leveraging, but the vast majority of the increase is for sure currency. Claus Almer But Q2 level will hopefully go up in second half of this year. So fixed costs will go up as well? Marika Fredriksson As I said, no. I mean overall we are keeping tight control. So it’s fairly limited on the activity level, but also, I mean we cannot rule out that there will be some increases, but it’s going to be limited also going forward. Claus Almer Okay. Then my second question goes to the product mix in the quarter. The mix you had is that an average from base compare to the backlog or was it better over? Marika Fredriksson Yes Klaus, that’s the number one question. There is no normal quarter in invest unfortunately. So you will always see these types of swings. What I think is good is if we look at the gross profit underlying base improving, it is lower compared to last year. The strive and the activities are in place to continue to improve on the gross profit. But it is very-very hard for me to say that is defined what is a normal quarter. The mix is not as favorable as last year clearly and that is also why we see that despite the high revenue or volume impact that is certainly offset to a certain extent by negative mix. Claus Almer So we should expect once you start dealing with the remaining got of your backlog across, it could be improving that also be drawn, is that right? Marika Fredriksson Possibly, but what I can say is that if we look at the order backlog, we are happy with how there backlog is distributed. Operator We now go to the line of Alok Katre of Societe. Please go ahead with your question. Your line is now open. Alok Katre Just a couple of maybe. First and foremost in Brazil, obviously currency and the economic activities situation over there is a little tough, I’m not say the least. But maybe you could just help us with what your analytic [indiscernible] to the Real is and how well you are covered there not just for 15 but also for 2016 as well, if there is any cover over there? And related question on Brazil of course is having grown rapidly over the past three years in terms of installations. If you look at some of the consultant forecast, they seems to be suggesting it will go a high level for fuels and perhaps even decline in the outer areas. And that said do you see competition hitting up and therefore is which does even with this recent [indiscernible] a little late and to the Brazilian sort of party sort of speak. So this is question number one and then I have follow-up on different topic. Thanks. Marika Fredriksson So I will start with the translation impact and Anders will follow-up on the Brazil question. So if you look at the primary impact on vessels P&L is translation with the strong U.S. dollar that received right now we have a positive impact from a translation point of view. In Q2 you see an impact of 140 million on the revenue, where approximately 18 is for the service business. There is as I said, a negative impact on the translation on the fixed capacity costs, so consequently, you see approximately, 10 million to 12 million positive impact from translation on the EBIT line So basically what I’m trying to say is that we are fairly well naturally hedged as a company with, and that is also what Andres alluded to earlier. We have a competitive advantage with our industrial platform, so that is providing to a great extent natural hedge the part that we are not naturally hedged we hedge the project, so we are not hedging the EBIT, but we are rather hedging the margin of the company. Alok Katre Okay, any specific comments around the Brazilian Real, in terms of being social over there, I mean obviously, I guess you do the some of the components from either Europe or U.S. or China as well so… Marika Fredriksson Yes, I clearly understand your question on Brazil, yes, the Brazilian Real is a challenge. But, we have a taken the decision to further improve our local production also to meet the local requirements, so we make sure we get the tax benefits. So overall the currency is a challenge, we are trying to mitigate that challenge with actions locally. Anders Runevad We have about 300 megawatt in backlog in Brazil so it’s not that much and of course as Marika said, the local quantum through it will also actually enforce that you have to do a lot of local production, so it’s a smaller fortune between where we have to work with [indiscernible] the product module. So, I think that leading a little bit out of your questions about Brazil enroll and whether or not it was the right time or wrong time for us to say, I think in that aspect of course the Brazilian Real and more the sort of overall macro development in Brazil is of course is negative and of course something important for us as well as all other companies to watch and my belief also after having worked in Brazil for many a years is that it is going to be a market where there is ups and downs. I think what’s at least what you have to take into account in Brazil, I think if you look at it from a renewal perspective, it’s a market that has a growing need for more energy it’s a market with fairly lot of old of hydro, so it’s a market that actually for the foreseeable future will have a growing energy need and it’s also a market and with a very good wind resources. So I, from that aspect, I think it’s going to continue to be a very interesting market. I am very happy with the timing of Vestas entering the market. I think we have managed to avoid the big rush that first started and that has actually led to some other suppliers leaving the market, so that means that we missed out a bit on the volume but on the other hand, if I see reconciliation in the market that’s happened after as I said, I am very happy with our most step-wise approach to get in to the market. Alok Katre Okay, just a follow-up on different topic altogether, obviously the 3 megawatt platform is getting streamlined just in Europe but as you suggested in the U.S. as well, how should we think about this from the profitability point of view particularly on some of the newer 3 megawatt turbine facility V126 or so. Just to get a sense of the mix effect and as we see [indiscernible] of the 3 mega watt turbines? Marika Fredriksson Overall both on the 2 mega watt and the 3 mega watt and I understand what you are alluding to, we are very happy with the profitability on both platforms. You will always see differences because mix will also — always playing so how you construct this specific project will have an impact on the profitability of the two platforms? But a generic answer is that, we are very happy with the both platforms. We also have activities to take cost-out on both platforms and that continues. Alok Katre Okay, so should I take it as there is – let’s say there is not much or not much of a mix effect from higher 3 megawatt in the wind? Marika Fredriksson It will depend on the specific project that’s all I can say to be – answer you very generically, it is – next will always have an impact on either platforms. But there are, as I said, the activities to continue to take cost-out and as you understand that 2 megawatt is more mature so there is more cost-out to take out on the 3 megawatts simply because it’s a newer platform. Alok Katre Okay, fine. And how much was it in terms of overall installed base and in terms of revenue share perhaps in H1 and if that could be? Anders Runevad On new installed base, I think we don’t have – I don’t have those numbers in front of me. [indiscernible] take first half it’s fairly it was, so I – can come back to you on the installed base. Alok Katre Sure, okay. Thank you. Operator Our next question is from the line of Klaus Kehl of Nykredit Markets. Please go ahead with your question, your line is open. Klaus Kehl Yes, hi, hello. Klaus Kehl from Nykredit Markets. Say and the first question would be on your current capacity, could you give us an update on that one and potentially also capacity constraints going forward if the odd intake continues at the same run rate yes as we are seeing right now, that will be my first question. Marika Fredriksson So if we look at the current capacity as , the business and that’s a reason for your question. It is developing quite fast, we have as Anders alluded to you earlier, we have really met the demand in the market in a very good way both in 2014 and but also in 2015. We have strong order in-take, we have a strong backlog and we have consequently decided to make further investments in capacity and that is primarily [indiscernible] and obviously with what we are doing now, we have the right activities in place to meet the demand that we see and having in front of us. Klaus Kehl Okay, but could you give some kind of indication of megawatts we are talking about the capacity of 8,000 megawatts or is that a company secret? Marika Fredriksson I don’t know, if it’s a company secret. Anders Runevad No we definitely have the required capacity and we have a very scalable capacity. I mean if you look at the nutshell it’s very – it’s actually very easy on the manufacturing footprint we have to scale up. Of course it would happen that we have to take from different parts of the world and of course it’s always an optimization that we are trying to do on closeness to the factory and where we have the project, but from a capacity point of view it’s a very scalable part. The blade part is what usually sets the numbers so just speak there as Marika said we have – and I think we have said on this call for the last three four calls that we are investing in new malls and they are actually — impossible to move around and from a breaking point of view was on the blade we loss and therefore we can also fix that. Klaus Kehl Okay. And then my second question would be on service revenues I must say that somewhat positively surprised about revenues in this quarter, so I just wanted to check if there is any unusual things included in the top line for this quarter and the service business? Marika Fredriksson I think that’s what you see in the service business, as you remember, we carved out the service business and made it a separate business and obviously it takes sometime before we get attraction on that focus and I think this is – it is a reflection on the focus so, it’s again very strong organic growth in the service business, obviously also reflection of the strong turbine order in-take that you see. Klaus Kehl Okay. Thank you very much. Operator We now go to the line of Sean McLoughlin at HSBC. Please go ahead, your line is open. Sean McLoughlin Good morning. Thank you. Can I just clarify on FX you said €10 million to €12 million of positive translation of EBIT, is that a total effect in Q2? Marika Fredriksson Correct. Sean McLoughlin Correct. And then two questions if I may, firstly, on the share buyback, if – you just talk about what might trigger that? Secondly, I am intrigued by your comments on 3 megawatts replacing 2 megawatts, just want to understand what’s driving that, is that fuel economic or just 3 megawatts turbine is actually much more competitive on a megawatt hour basis in low medium wind speed is it down to permitting or is there anything else and particularly what other markets could we begin to see that, and most of all, how does that shape relate to that you think about future for [indiscernible]. Marika Fredriksson Okay, if we start with the quicker question, which is the share buyback, we will obviously when we have a solid proposal from our side we are not ruling out the share buyback as I said and neither a dividend, so we will give a recommendation when we have recommendation in place to the Board and then they will make it ultimate decision on how much that can be. But obviously, we understand and respect their requirements and also see that ourself to make the balance sheet even more efficient. Anders Runevad On the [indiscernible] 3 megawatt platform question and I will say that – I mean 95% of the driving is of course pure economics as you alluded to. So it’s levelized cost of energy production and of course we see then very good progress, so on the 3 megawatts both when it comes to increased power rating we can now go up to 3.45 megawatt and also increased rotor size, but it’s also saw that with our new turbines we can reach higher and therefore we had to get the wind condition, we can also go to new places with new features that’s both grid features but also for example the deicing solution. We also have solutions on more humid conditions. So it is very much to the absolute highest grids driven by levelized cost of energy and more efficiency energy production. So, that is what sort of drive this trend we have seen of course since before that we have for example in Latin America a quite a lot of 3 megawatt projects U.S. we see now in Q2 clearly and the reason why we see more – in a market the tradition has been only 2 megawatt, we now see a good order in-take from 3 megawatt is that there are sites now where the economics are better for our 3 megawatt platform. Sean McLoughlin So does this mean that, in terms of future product development, you’ll have more of a 3 megawatt, or go for a 3 megawatt plus focus? Anders Runevad I think there is a trend in the market it’s definitely there, so and also if you look at the age or the platform of course, the 3 megawatt platform as Marika said as well it’s a much newer platform for us and of course the potential for us both on improving that further both from a cost point of view but also from energy production point of view is higher from the pure fact that it’s a newer platform. Sean McLoughlin Thank you. Operator Our next question is from the line of Shai Hill at Macquarie. Please go ahead, your line is open. Shai Hill Yes thank you very much. So my two questions, I think the first one, Marika, could I just ask you, sorry I am not getting this, but to explain the difference in terms of the offshore between the 27 million reported and 8 million you said [indiscernible] it’s the difference specially sale of equipment from [indiscernible] joint venture perhaps you can just explain it to me I’m not getting it? Second question was just, Andres maybe could comment a bit on Germany, very big market for you last year, about 18% your deliveries and obviously there has been some regulatory changes than your first half deliveries in Germany are slightly less than half of what they were in the first half of last year. Do you think aspect, to seem that would be the picture for the full year basis, that you sort of do less than a half of what you did last year roughly or is there some seasonal rebound, or deliveries that should expect to Germany? Marika Fredriksson Okay. So, if we start with your first question. So the joint venture had a profit in itself, a net profit of 12, we get 50% of that so it’s a 6 million and not 8, as I said. And besides that we had profits from the joint venture sales of turbine, so transfer of risk to the end user of some 50 million I think it was. And then you have adjustments, so that’s the additional 15 million of turbine sold from Vestas to the joint venture. So we end up in the territory of 27 million. The thing is just to take it from the beginning is, we sell this 3 megawatt platform to the joint venture, we then recognize revenue and consequently have the gross profit on that particular projects, so it hasn’t impact on our EBIT, but then for following the accounting rules and principal, we have to deduct that profit under the EBIT line. So that would show negative figures from the joint venture. [Audio gap] And now as we sold last year into the joint venture they now have transferred the risk of these projects and that consequently have a positive impact once they out below the EBIT line for Vestas. So it is purely accounting principal, I don’t know if I explain it very well, but I really — that’s the best effort. Unidentified Analyst Okay. I think I got that. You had a profit in Q2 last year of sales to the joint venture, which reverse out below the EBIT line and — Marika Fredriksson That’s the correct. Unidentified Analyst You book a positive. Okay. Anders Runevad Okay. So it will be about Germany, and you are right and as we expected and as we talked about as well we saw decline in delivery in Germany this year, we have seen the decline in the market from a very-very high market before on delivery. Then also as we expected that’s a compensated for with the lot of increase the delivery activities in several outdoor markets in Amea [ph] talked about Finland, talked about Turkey, good activity levels in France and so on. So as expected, it come from a very strong delivery loss here in Germany we saw a decline in delivery for the first half but well compensated in other markets in Europe. If you look at orders, picture is a bit different as you can see orders for the first half in, there may have a reason and is up 37%, year-on-year and in the quarter actually up 53%, so a good development on the order intake side. And here we actually see a good development also in Germany on the order side. So compared to last year as we have said before, as well we have seen Germany smaller from a delivery point of view with this year but longer term we see Germany as a big stable market. Operator We are now over to line of Patrik Setterberg of Nordea. Please go ahead. Your line is open. Patrik Setterberg Two questions, the first is regarding or both of them is regarding the development on the US market, you now have 2.3 gigawatt in master supply agreements, I just wondering if the clients want to utilize all of this 2.3 gigawatt of borders, would you be able to produce all of them in 2015 and 2016 and my second question regarding USA is that during the first half of 2015 you have been able to book orders out of orders in USA 50% of the orders is outside these small service agreements. Is this a more positive development than expected or is it demand what you have set forward in the start of the year. Anders Runevad Yes, so if I start with your first question. So if we can confirm the potential of the front 2.3 form an unconditional we will be able to produce and deliver that within ’15 and ’16 that will definitely have the capacity for. On your second question it is of course positive that we have taken also a lot share outside the framed agreement in the first half. And again I am very satisfied with our performance in the U.S. and our ability to take market share and orders. Then of course you should also remember that border line in between is somewhat fluent as of course you could have project that was in a frame before [Audio Gap] time therefore with components for P2C qualification and then those projects or someone one or two project can move out that, customer can sale that to another customers that we have the frame agreement but of course it’s still then designed with Vestas component across our possibilities to secure that order is fairly good. So it is a bit of a moving market as well when it comes to project in the frame and outside the frame but overall we definitely have the capacity in ’15 and ’16 but we expect both years to be very busy be rest. And of course we are happy also to take even more orders outside the frames. Operator The last question is from the line of Jose Arroyas of Exane. Please go ahead. Your line is open. Jose Arroyas Good morning, everybody. I had a couple of questions. First one on the service margins, given the prepared comment section you eluded to $2 million to $3 million of one off costs in a service unit. Could you explain to us if that’s ForEx related, if that’s geographic mix or seasonal effect that we should know about and if so that will reverse in the second half? That’s question number one. Marika Fredriksson Okay. So to be very clear on that and it is nothing to be, it’s nothing that we will see on a occurring basis, but of course you count it in a quarter or in a month have that type of cost, but it’s nothing that we plan for. And that’s a little bit my point is when you have an extraordinary cost in a fairly small business on a comparable basis, you will see an impact on the EBIT margin. But as I said we still have very high margins and also very stable margins overall in the service business. So it’s nothing that we are worried about or have a concern about. Jose Arroyas Where that cost comes from what’s the nature of those costs if I may ask? Marika Fredriksson Well, I do not have the precise description of the cost base for you. So I would suggest that you look or check that with our Investor Relations. Jose Arroyas Okay. And my last question is on the JV. What is the amount of milestone payments that you have received from Mitsubishi year-to-date and what have been booked in the balance sheet and the capital statement? Thank you very much. Marika Fredriksson The amount [Audio Gap] The overall deal with Mitsubishi was that Mitsubishi had a payment of all-in-all 300 million into the joint venture. A 100 million was transferred at the start of the joint venture, the remaining 200 was transferred on milestones to joint venture and it’s not 12.5 million left out of the total of 300 million. Operator We’ll now hand back to Anders to close. Marika Fredriksson Okay. So with that, we close this call. Again thank you for calling in, thank you for your questions and thank you for your continued interest.

DIA Compared To FEZ: Europe May Offer A Buffer For Domestic Weakness

Summary European turnaround is being reflected through strong numbers for both manufacturing and consumer strength, setting up a post crisis rally similar to those seen after the previous two Greek bailouts. U.S. Markets have shown significant fear and weakness recently, wiping out massive gains from many of America’s largest companies, reflected by the significant losses sustained in most the Dow Jones. Goldman Sachs recently issued a report upgrading Europe to a Buy, and predicting European equities would outperform U.S. equities, which thus far has proven the case year to date. Comparing the DIA and FEZ, investors can clearly see the DIA’s chart is testing dangerous technical levels (potential death cross), while the FEZ is quietly rebounding toward the upside. With a strong dollar, weak Euro, low commodity prices, and zero rates, European QE should be enough to fuel economic growth, making FEZ’s additional yield and upside an attractive alternative. Introduction & Thesis Europe has faded into the shadows this summer, putting the American economy back into focus for investors right in time for what has thus far turned out to be a volatile and bearish earnings season, wiping out 100’s of Billions of dollars off some of America’s largest companies market caps. With Europe starting out the year strong on expectations of a long awaited turnaround fueled by a perfect storm of accommodative macro factors (QE, Low Euro, Low rates etc.), the trade lost much of its momentum quickly as another chapter in the Greek saga unfolded over the first 6 months of the year. As U.S. markets continue to struggle, it may be time to reconsider Europe (specifically the Euro Zone), and use it as a defensive position that also offers great yield, and forward looking growth. With that being said, those investors who utilize ETFs for passive or index based strategies, as well as yield hungry income focused investors looking to diversify their holdings, should consider trimming exposure to the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Composite ETF (NYSEARCA: DIA ), any similar ETF product representing the U.S. Dow Jones Industrial Average, or domestic large cap multinationals in general, and allocate that portion to the SPDR Euro Stoxx 50 ETF (NYSEARCA: FEZ ), or at the very least selected names from the group. FEZ tracks the Euro Stoxx 50 Index on a market cap weighted, cost efficient basis that offers investors a cheap, and well diversified piece of exposure into the Euro zone’s largest and most stable companies. Keep in mind this fund does NOT include countries outside of the currency union such as the United Kingdom, Norway, or Switzerland. Instead, this move is a pure 3 part play on the continued recovery of the European Monetary Union’s various economies, a weaker and more turbulent U.S. equity market, and a successful outcome to Mr. Draghi’s long over due version of a Quantitative Easing program, “EU QE”. Countries such as the U.K., outside the Euro Zone nations, have had stronger recoveries that look more in line with the U.S. (A more detailed list of the fundamental drivers are listed later in the analysis, a long with suggestions on how to trade this theme). With some of this year’s largest gainers in the Dow like Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL ) & Disney (NYSE: DIS ) taking 12% and 10% hits respectively from their recent record highs, a long with the Dow dropping 4% into negative YTD territory, all in just a matter of days, investors are worried these may be signs of a long awaited broad market correction. The fears of a prolonged fairly uninterrupted 7 year bull market, slowing growth, in China, in addition to speculation over the Fed’s first rate hike since 2006, gives investors plenty of issues to worry about. Weak forward guidance across most industries, especially large domestic multi national companies with exposure to a strong dollar, and a trigger happy investor who’s loaded with profit bullets, in combination has pushed this over extended period of market consolidation into negative territory. We have already seen the spillage into the semiconductor space, as well as other high beta sectors across the S&P 500 starting to weaken, investors are now left with difficult decisions to make, in the event the floor falls through, and prices tank. These are signs that investors are taking gains from their best winners, and playing defense until the outlook and climate is more clear. With bond yields flattening, investors have few safe havens to seek. The analysis below will show just why the growth, yield, and risk / reward profile of FEZ is a great way to rebalance some risk over the pond, and at the same time earn above average streams of continued income from FEZ’s impressive yield. The analysis is meant to provide a way to mitigate looming risks in domestic markets, capture the growing opportunity in Europe, and provide a solid alternative that can be held for a range of time, while providing diversity, growth, and most of all income in the face of turbulence and uncertainty. If the U.S. downtrend doesn’t pivot, and Europe continues to strengthen, this capital rotation will add significant risk adjusted returns to your overall portfolio, both in the medium and long term. Valuation Comparison: Risk, Fundamentals, & Distributions Before we delve into the various reasons why I feel Europe offers a certain level of safety over the U.S., lets take a look at the numbers between the two ETFs. Below we will examine both the Risk and Fundamental metrics between the two funds. Side by Side Comparison of Metrics (source: Ycharts) RISK INFO FEZ DIA Beta 1.562 0.9254 Max Drawdown ((All)) 66.12% 53.77% Historical Sharpe (10y) 0.2463 0.5848 30-Day Rolling Volatility 26.52% 11.92% Daily Value at Risk (VAR)1% 5.51% 3.28% Monthly Value at Risk 1% 18.97% 13.08% (for any terms above unfamiliar to you, you can access simple definitions at www.investopedia.com ) The first items above are some of the statistical risk metrics related to each fund’s volatility and momentum. We see significant differences between the two, reflected in FEZ’s higher beta, volatility, and variances, relative to the DIA. With that being said, one must keep in mind the DIA has enjoyed a multi year, liquidity driven bull market, on the back of many years of cheap liquidity from the Federal Reserve’s QE program, which also brought stability to a crippled economy. While Europe on the other hand has seen essentially the opposite, making them more volatile. On the other side of the pond, we have seen Europe struggle since the 2008 global recession. There have been periods of hope (such as 2013- mid 2014), where a turnaround seemed in place, only to be reversed by a continued struggle with the EU’s weakest nations, and their struggles with extreme austerity and stagnant growth (mainly Greece). Never the less, this beta and volatility provides investors with upside potential, mitigated by a 3.1% dividend yield (compared to the DIA’s 1.78%). The next section really begins to highlight the upside opportunity. (source: Ycharts) FUNDAMENTALS FEZ DIA Dividend Yield TTM (8-6-15) 3.10% 1.78% Weighted Average PE Ratio 19.46 15.68 Weighted Average Price to Sales Ratio 1.043 1.74 Weighted Average Price to Book Ratio 1.541 3.071 Weighted Median ROE 12.08% 28.48% Weighted Median ROA 3.80% 8.87% Forecasted Dividend Yield 3.31% 2.59% Forecasted PE Ratio 15.65 16.5 Forecasted Price to Sales Ratio 0.8187 1.666 Forecasted Price to Book Ratio 1.562 2.768 As U.S. markets continue to slide, investors looking for protection through diversity, growth, and yield will be looking for new opportunities to park their cash, especially outside the U.S. where the sun is quickly fading away. While the DIA has significantly outperformed on an ROE & ROA basis, they lack a strong dividend stream, and further upside potential after years of robust price appreciation and growth. After a multi year run, investors see how quickly the market has reversed, especially after struggling all year to barely stay in the black (record setting consolidation period), and fear is creeping in slowly. With EU QE in full swing, the road is wide open for Europe to speed up, especially now that it seems the U.S. is quickly stalling. When we examine the two based on forecasted P/E, P/S, & Price to book, we see that on a forward basis, Europe’s assets are trading at significantly discounted multiples in comparison, reflecting the difference in performance post crisis. Keeping in mind these are estimates based on a group of stocks, so spending time on estimating 51 different future earnings, we will maintain a broad view, such as the impressive overall yield, and the large spread between FEZ’s 3.10% with DIA’s 1.78%. When we examine performance over a variety of periods, we see the additional yield over long periods of time creates an immense amount of additional gains (assuming reinvestment of dividends). Distribution Schedule (source: Fidelity) Date Price at Distribution Distribution Amount Yield % of Yearly Distribution 6/19/2015 $38.18 $0.78 2.05% ** TBD 3/20/2015 $39.23 $0.04 0.11% ** TBD 12/19/2014 $37.56 $0.29 0.78% 21.14% 9/19/2014 $41.08 $0.08 0.20% 6.02% 6/20/2014 $43.81 $0.92 2.10% 65.91% 3/21/2014 $41.71 $0.10 0.23% 6.92% 12/20/2013 $40.75 $0.19 0.46% 16.37% 9/20/2013 $38.64 $0.09 0.24% 8.11% 6/21/2013 $32.73 $0.80 2.44% 69.40% 3/15/2013 $34.84 $0.07 0.20% 6.12% Total 2014 $1.39 100.00% Total 2013 $1.15 100.00% Here we see the last two years of distributions, which are paid quarterly. The issue, or opportunity depending on timing, is the uneven nature of the distribution schedule, which goes in line with the dividend payout schedules of the underlying companies (some pay semi annual, or annual). We clearly see the June payment is by far the largest payment, with the December payment following, as those two months include most the population of the underlying companies. It is important for investors to take into account the above distribution schedule when considering their risk reward calculations and trading strategy for the FEZ. Top 5 ETF Components for Each Fund The next area of analysis involves looking a bit into the top holdings of each fund, while distinguishing differences in the structure and construction of the portfolio. We will examine briefly the individual names, and their performance YTD. We also will look at a few other differences, including sector exposure and potential future performance. (Source: ETF.com ) FEZ TOP 5 HOLDINGS WEIGHT% DIA TOP 5 HOLDINGS WEIGHT% Sanofi (NYSE: SNY ) 4.80 Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS ) 7.89 Bayer AG (OTCPK: BAYZF ) 4.77 IBM (NYSE: IBM ) 6.18 Total SA (NYSE: TOT ) 4.73 3M (NYSE: MMM ) 5.85 Banco Santander (NYSE: SAN ) 4.12 Boeing (NYSE: BA ) 5.29 Anheuser-Busch (NYSE: BUD ) 3.82 Apple Inc ( AAPL ) 4.76 Total % 22.24 % Total % 29.97 % There are a variety of differences between the two funds in terms of construction, sector exposure, and diversification. The first and biggest difference among the two is construction. FEZ is a MARKET CAP weighted fund, while DIA is PRICE weighted. The second difference is the DIA is only made up of 31 stocks, while the FEZ has 51 components to the pie. This makes the DIA more susceptible to single stock risk, as we see the largest holding has nearly a 65% spread between the DIA and FEZ. Next we examine each component, looking at their YTD performance, and brief outlook and description providing an idea of future growth. (Notice from June 1, to about July 10, the markets traded in almost perfect correlation, due to crisis in Greece.) FEZ – Outlook of Top 5 Components Sanofi and Bayer are both healthcare related companies, and have done extremely well (22.16% & 9.93% respectively) YTD. Going forward, both companies offer great products & pipelines, strong distribution channels globally, strong earnings potential, and will most likely continue to outperform the general benchmarks both in Europe and in their respective sectors. Total SA & Banco Santander are the two weak performers of the bunch. Even though Total is showing a flat total return for the year, this is following a nearly 30% decline due to the price of oil in the prior year. On the other hand, one of the most underappreciated banks with a large global presence, Banco Santander, struggles to get the price of its stock to reflect what has been a tremendous run of continued growth and execution across all fronts of the business. My first article in June provides a very detailed write up, and is well worth the time to read, as SAN’s performance highlights many of the same catalyst driving this thesis. Finally Anheuser-Busch InBev, famously known for beers like Budweiser, continues to sell millions of “cold ones” around the world, and shows no sign, or any reason why investors should expect otherwise. With two healthcare companies, an energy company, global retail banking, and consumer discretionary exposure, the top five holdings for FEZ are not only well diversified, but are overweight the very industries poised to benefit from lower rates and a strong dollar. Energy companies will have their day in court again some day. However, on our side of the pond, these same catalyst have been exponentially resulting in negative results on the top and bottom lines of companies across most sectors, as well as forward guidance, leaving investors struggling to find direction, or a safe haven. China may be one of the only mutually negative catalyst the two share. Its easy to see that U.S. Equity Markets find themselves in a dangerous limbo, where things can go either way, as we see through out our analysis, and below. DIA – Outlook of Top 5 Components Goldman Sachs is the world’s most well known, and arguably respected investment banks. Performance has been strong, and out of the 5, stands to gain a benefit from a rising rate environment the U.S. will face when the Federal Reserve raises rates. Boeing is one of the world’s top two aviation aircraft manufacturers, among other things such as aerospace defense. Performance and execution has remained strong, and issues with labor unions and stalled contracts have not returned. With a healthy backlog and a strong airlines sector continuing to order planes, Boeing’s outlook is bright. IBM and 3M represent the classic and decades old nature of the Dow. Both companies have struggled in their own ways to keep reinventing themselves to grow top line figures in a meaningful way. With tougher economic conditions, both companies have taken significant hits over the last month, exposing their weak investor sentiment, and buyback fueled anemic growth that has trended downwards for multiple quarters. Lastly Apple is the world’s most successful OEM, and doesn’t need an introduction. The main issue lately with Apple has been the massive loss in market cap over the course of days, following what was in my opinion a strong earnings report. Due to fears in Chinese demand, and a lack of vision provided into a more diversified revenue stream, Apple is in correction territory, and has brought the entire ecosystem of suppliers down with them. The charts and mixed sentiments indicate a difficult few months until the launch of the next iPhone this fall, or some kind of evidence easing China related fears can put a floor in the stock. In my humble opinion, this is the one Dow component worth buying, but market troubles indicate patience should be exhibited. This indication for the world’s largest company by a wide margin, shows an overall distrust in the future strength of the global consumer. The Dow has a completely different make up in terms of sectors in their top 5, and worse of all, the industries with the weakest performance make up a significant portion of the overall pie (examples: Industrials 27%). FEZ’s largest sector is healthcare, which is more recession proof and benefits from many positive catalyst, as well as stable demand, which will make a difference when the waters are choppy, and global growth remains anemic. Historic Performance The purpose of looking at the next set of graphs is to examine FEZ’s growth pre and post recession relative to the DIA. We will clearly see that Europe pre crisis was growing leaps and bounds over the U.S., but on the other end, has yet to fully recover due to the drastically different economies that make up the multi nation currency union. With very bearish market signals in the U.S., and Europe still way below pre-crisis highs, rebalancing capital over the pond currently offers both the drastically different (and much needed) yield both for income and protection, as well as upside potential. We will examine each point in time separately below. (2002 – Present) – Overview Look Above we see the two main catalyst that makes this trade attractive in broad view. The main catalyst that makes FEZ an attractive option for DGI investors, especially investors either restricted to ETFs, or prefer the embedded diversity they offer, is the 3% yield. As we can see, over time, that yield has made a significant difference. In fact, over the roughly 13 year period we are examining above, the spread between price and total return (assuming reinvested dividends), is roughly 86% (139%-56%), a 130% (86/56) difference between price and total return for FEZ. Compare that to the DIA, where the spread is 75% (184%-109%), but is only a 65% (75/109) difference in return. We clearly see the additional yield makes up for the additional risk incurred both from the inherent issues the Euro Zone nations face, as well as the beta and variances associated with FEZ. Below we will examine the above results, on a pre and post crisis basis, which will reveal the potential upside, and reversal in trend that may occur very soon (if not already occurring). Keep in mind Europe has significant room to the upside, to just break even with pre crisis levels. After 7 years, even if those levels were overvalued, by now, the fair value of the continent’s strongest companies are undervalued based on even the most conservative estimates and growth rates (this was reflected in the valuation multiples examined in the Fundamentals section). Pre Crisis (2002- Jan 1 2008) FEZ Total Return Price data by YCharts Before the world had experienced the consequences of careless credit practices, Europe was leveraging their way to growth at a much faster pace than the U.S. as we see above in the chart. In fact, on a total return basis, over just half a decade, the FEZ returned over 1.1xs that of the DIA, on a total return basis (again, you have to love that yield). Fueled by historically weaker nations leveraging consumption (to this day we see the unfortunate aftermath), Europe was caught skinny dipping in broad daylight when the tide receded. That is evident by the results below, post crash, and the extended credit crisis still half resolved half a decade later. There is no question below that Europe has significant ground to make up, 40% for FEZ from the top roughly, which even at a 5% growth rate a year, by now should have been exceeded. Economic value, and political or structural issues affecting the prices of their capital markets has been acted as a poison pill to accessing success. With many of the lose ends getting tied (as seen through empirical evidence in the latest economic reports), the upside, and the spread closing below, is an attractive bargain for investors looking to flee the up coming volatility here in the U.S . That reversal in strength can occur quickly of both economies remain on the same path. Europe’s upside may finally be realized. Post Crisis (Jan 1 2008- Present) From what we see above, if one were to look at just the last few months on the chart, we can already see that divergence in full swing. The chart ends looking like the FEZ has made somewhat of a bottom with an upward trend beginning, and the DIA looks like it topped, and is hanging off a cliff deciding which direction its going to take, and most likely travel in a hurry. The evidence behind catching this macro level shift may lie in the next section.. This is Where We Get to the Point Summary of Investment Thesis & Related Items After a long analysis of a variety of factors above, it would seem prudent to review the basic fundamentals underlying this macro economically driven investment thesis. We conducted an extensive review of both continent’s economies, and described briefly their rise pre crisis, as well as recoveries post crisis, to develop an idea of the bigger picture, and highlight the potential upside and downside going forward. The construction of each ETF, associated risks and fundamentals, as well as historic performance, allowed us to see take a look inside each product, ensuring both quality and functionality would translate into the capabilities we need to make this a successful trade. With that said, we will go ahead and review the main factors driving this thesis: U.S. markets have shown great weakness in the face of multiple headwinds coming from every direction. Headwinds such as extreme weakness from China and a strong dollar will most likely continue to push investors hands toward the sell button, especially based on the chart’s bearish technical signals such as a death cross forming in the DIA. With a raging multi year bull market backed by the Federal Reserve’s massive QE program, a looming rate hike will add to further market pressure, while delaying past September may only give markets a temporary cushion, but reverting back to weakness on seriously declining market fundamentals (U.S. issues have been discussed through out article). With Europe historically rallying after both Greek bailouts were finalized (2010, 2012), the economic stars have aligned under strong fundamentals, and quantitative results provided in the Markit link to most recent PMI results. The European trade will continue to gain long lost momentum, as U.S. institutional investors flee a long feared and somewhat expected downturn, for economic opportunity that reflects more in line with the environment that lead to the U.S. market’s immense bull run and recovery. With 40% upside left from all time highs, FEZ offers investors both exposure to the largest companies of Europe, who best withstand the volatile nature of that economy, and have diverse demographic exposure with respect to revenue (strong global presences). The 3% yield, and rather defined trading range with identifiable downside risk and upside opportunity, as well as historic evidence of breakout capabilities exhibited both in 2010, and 2013, following the 1st and 2nd bailouts of Greece, make the trade attractive for a variety of investor needs. Often investors may not have the capabilities to invest in foreign markets in a cost efficient manner, FEZ removes the cost while giving investors exposure to the market with the most growth opportunity, while experiencing the benefit of a long list of Macro opportunities from a Low Euro, rates, oil, and the ECB pouring 80B in liquidity each month. The above are just off hand some of the obvious benefits that would be derived from the added exposure of FEZ. It may seem like I have a very bearish outlook on U.S. markets, but I clearly want to state that is not the case. U.S. equity markets still remain the best place for an investor to generate wealth over the long run, but investors tend to forget, Europe offers tremendous opportunity as well. The issues I keep covering and repeating are issues that may cause the markets to temporarily dysfunction, and with such a long run lacking any type of correction, common logic in the face of all the evidence says that decreasing long U.S. exposure, and increasing EZ exposure presents a well calculated trade exposing the upside potential yet to be realized in Europe, and defend against any gain an impressive yield to protect against weakness at home. Below we take a look at the two from 3 different time periods, with a technical perspective supporting the qualitative issues discussed here today. These charts are meant to display clearly how the movement of the markets support this thesis, both from a YTD and a long term perspective. YTD Performance Performance YTD for Europe has been stronger as was expected, despite the ups and downs, as well as the highly publicized Greek Crisis, which on a chart, clearly shows where Europe is weakest (significant drop after missed June 30 deadline). The next chart will compare the DIA to the FEZ, with technical indicators being the 50 and 200 day moving averages. First we will look at the chart from Jan 1 2010 (which includes both the Greek bailouts as well as the years where the “PIGS”, were an every day acronym used to describe the crippling issues plaguing Europe and their sovereign debt markets, while the U.S. was seeing record gains across the board. 5 Year & YTD Technical Chart – DIA in Danger, FEZ Breaking out Jan 1 2010 – Present As we can clearly see above, Europe’s struggle to maintain an adequate rally based on what was a roaring U.S. market, and an unstable as well as unproven European turnaround. With sign of weakness (especially the infamous Greek bailouts), the selling was almost immediate, and drastic. The graph represents the real upside opportunity Europe offers over the U.S. at the present moment. The SPDR STOXX Europe 50 ETF (NYSEARCA: FEU ) represents the same territories, but in addition includes every nation in the European Union (such as the U.K. and Switzerland), which has been included for additional comparison. As we can see, there is almost a direct correlation between FEU and FEZ, incase anyone was wondering why one over the other. I would like investors to compare each downturn (which were all related to issues similar to the Greek Crisis we witnessed this year), and examine the corresponding periods after agreements/bailouts were granted. Each period (2010 & 2012) were followed by SIGNIFICANT rallies. This is because investors have been anxiously waiting for Europe to catch up to the U.S. The fundamental difference was the absence of key economic drivers such as; 0 rates, a historically weak Euro/Dollar, and commodity prices such as oil, at recession level lows, and so on. The combination of those factors, with the disruption of a recovery that was well in place from 2013 until mid 2014 (one that included Greece as well), before talks of anti austerity politics and elections came to surface, presents near term future upside opportunity across the Euro Zone. With the noise level down in Europe, and a 3rd bailout essentially a matter of crossing Ts and dotting Is, the setup looks perfect for another breakout rally. The numbers and factors we will discuss in the last section provide the necessary quantitative proof on top of the aforementioned patterns described above, that this trend has a high probability of producing value both in the long and short term horizon. On the opposite end here in the States, we have enjoyed 7 years of relatively smooth sailing upwards, feeling like we are reaching the end of the road as the Fed gets ready to raise rates for the first time in nearly a decade. The DIA chart at the end looks like a cliff hanger, as we will see below. YTD Chart – Here comes the Death Cross As we see above, on just price performance, YTD FEZ has outperformed by over (8%, over 9% including dividends). Furthermore, the technicals are pointing to a death cross about to occur, something unseen in the Dow since 2011 (also the last real correction for U.S. Markets), as we will further discuss in the conclusion section. Here we will focus on the very short term picture (especially the last 45 days). With traders on edge, I expect the 50 day to actually cross with the 200 day (could be as soon as mid month), and experience an extended selloff with lower lows, lower highs continuing as a trend It could be very possible to see the Dow below 17K, which will force the hand of money managers into defensive mode. Hedge Funds do not have the luxury of holding cash (or at least do not move to cash positions for very long), and will need to find both safety and growth for their client’s wealth. With a 3rd straight year of under performance as a group, I expect institutional investors to chase opportunity across the pond, and avoid what seems to be a setup for a messy back half of the year. With Europe still not having shown enough proof to investors on a long term basis, that rotation will most likely go into large cap stable names, which is exactly what the FEZ represents. As we just saw it bounce off its own 50 & 200 Day averages, I expect it to continue to trend upwards, as more capital will have no choice (since bond aren’t a viable option), to fly to Europe for safety. If we do see any weakness out of Europe, I would take it as a buying opportunity. The catalyst and figures are pointing to exact opposite directions for the U.S. and Europe, and below we will quickly review those items, before we conclude our analysis. Goldman Report & Catalyst for Both Continents Goldman Sachs recently issued a note stating that European Equities should be purchased at the expense of domestic equities on the back of the same fundamental catalyst described here in the article. Below we will outline some key bullet points both for the U.S. and EZ. PMI data comes directly from Markit Ltd (NASDAQ: MRKT ). I suggest investors click here, and go through each county’s as well as the group’s latest figures to gain a firm understanding of the current economic state of Euro Zone (considering most investors at least know the domestic figures). For the sake of simplicity, I will summarize bullet points for both Europe and the U.S., taking into account current state of economies, quantitative figures, and qualitative factors that will impact the short and medium term outlooks of the two continents. I also have provided a link here to Markit’s latest economic outlook for the Eurozone nations. United States PMI Results : Manufacturing PMI: Sharpest rise in 3 months at 53.8, but is still maintaining a trend of declining activity, due to input cost inflation, slowing economic growth, and a strong dollar affecting exports. Manufacturing hiring has also slowed, pointing to a cautious outlook. Services PMI – Another bounce back month, in the area of majority for U.S. GDP, clocked in 57.7, ending a down trend that saw 5 month low in June. There was still little to be excited about as this was measured as the slowest rate of expansion since January, but never the less, was a pick up in activity. The outlook again was cautiously optimistic, citing the same concerns the article highlights for U.S. economic activity. The one item this will certainly affect is the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy decisions. Europe Manufacturing PMI – Manufacturing PMI for the Eurozone nations came in at 52.3, but not without their share of improvement and failures. Germany continues to suffer from China’s slowing growth, as manufacturing stands at a halt, not ticking either direction with any vigor. On the other hand, the Netherlands (another strong industrial economy) showed the best growth, a long side Italy who hit a 52 month high, followed by Spain who also came in with stronger numbers. Spanish recovery is key to the overall Eurozone recovery, as they and Italy are must win battles against peripheral weakness from Greece. As of now, that weakness remains contained to the Greek nation. Retail PMI – Here is where investors should pay close attention to the results. PMI for retail grew from 50.4 to 54.2, showing the trickle down effect from EU QE was finally positively impacting citizens. On the inverse from manufacturing data, German citizens recorded a retail PMI figure of 57.7, showing the strength of low unemployment and strong consumer strength. While manufacturing isn’t growing, Germans were still spending heavily on themselves. On the other hand, peripheral nations like Italy are feeling the recovery on the first side of the equation, economic growth (strong manufacturing, increased lending, reversal in unemployment), which should lead to further economic growth and return the consumer to his old glory. After years of austerity, tight budget cuts, and other measures that beat the European consumer into the ground, the resurgence has followed the trend that results from banks such as SAN have indicated; people are starting to borrow, buy, and contribute again to the economic cycle, and stock prices have yet to reflect this very real change in direction. Conclusion: Final Thoughts and Trading Strategy Final Thoughts – DIA Dangers even worse at closer look Focusing all your energy on attempting to call bottoms, or predicting the next bear market crash, is about as useful of a strategy as closing your eyes, and blindly picking stock tickers. Even professionals rarely make these calls, as the amount of moving parts and complexity make it impossible in today’s markets to see things coming clearly. We are really sailing uncharted waters, as the permanent bears have learned the hard way. Every time you will find yourself losing more in opportunity costs, and time, than anything else, instead of being positioned to withstand the rainy days as the come to surface. With that said, their is a significant difference between waiting and searching for crashes and bear markets, and playing a solid and smart defense in times of uncertainty, while also leaving room in case things turn again in a positive direction. This thesis is exactly the essence of that philosophy, smart defense with participation in the upside as well. As we saw in the chart comparisons between the DIA, and FEZ, the DIA is testing extremely dangerous waters essentially forming a death cross (50 Day crossing under 200 Day), while the FEZ seems to be exhibiting resilience. The last time in 2011 when this occurred, we saw significant market losses. The one saving grace, is that we have traded a historically tight range from January until now, leaving the averages time to close in on each other, which makes a breakout in either direction inevitable based on the extreme amount of uncertainty. Below we see just how long it has been since we have had such delicate technical indicators. In August 2011, following the last death cross witnessed, we saw a huge correction, that lasted till about year end 2011. Now again in August (a historically weak month for stocks), 4 years later, we are exactly at the same intersection. If history repeats itself, which there is certainly plenty of reason to believe it could occur, investors will have to wait until Q1 2016 for a turnaround. These next 2 weeks will determine if this trend really holds, and will most likely shift the market one direction or the other in a meaningful way. (click to enlarge) Since 2012, we have had nothing but a straight shot up, pulling back periodically, and bouncing off to new highs each time. If the death cross does occurs and holds, (one of the most reliable and bearish technical signals) there really isn’t much support due to such a prolonged period of consolidation this year. It would be anyone’s guess where the pressure could send the index in the notoriously low volume, bearish month of August. Even if the fed comes in and says September is out of the question, there still may not be enough steam to keep the train going. That is actually the only viable possibility for a quick reversal. I brought this chart and topic back to focus in the conclusion to remind investors that bull markets do end, and they do not send you a letter in the mail warning you that the party may be over for now. In my humble opinion, I just believe this weakness is par for the course, and will work its way out slowly, but not without its share of pain, confusion, fear, and anxiety riddling investors out of some of their profitable positions. I believe diversifying your risk to a growth area of the world poised to make up for many years of lost ground, makes the soundest alternative to keeping all your chips on the table staring danger straight in the face. Europe as a stand alone trade in its own right is wise, a mixture of exposure is responsibly diversifying your risk, and the FEZ does it with tremendous yield, and a predictable trading range. Trading Strategy- A variety of choices I wouldn’t find it reasonable after such a thorough analysis to leave the reader without at least a couple trading ideas to ponder. To be clear, when referring to the floor, I am using the lowest support level I can clearly find, which is about 35, for this year. The ceiling on the chart is about 42, so we have a pretty defined range, and can use a variety of methods to maximize our gains. The support and resistance levels happen to also be the 52 week highs and lows, as the FEZ too has traded rather range bound for the year. FEZ options aren’t very active, but never the less do trade, and have decent open interest. Trimming Large cap or DIA exposure is up to the individual investor’s strategy, so the suggestions focus on where to rotate whatever capital you decide to allocate depending on your investor profile. No Options – One can simply swap positions proportionately, and expect modest growth, having missed the best buying opportunity created by the introduction of capital controls in Greece. After a week of fear driven headlines and entertaining politics, Greece raised the white flag, and FEZ rebounded back up to its rather tight 45 day trading range of 37-38. With the 52 week low of 34.76 and the 52 week high of 41.80, investors must decide the time length in order to estimate the upside potential. If you choose to just buy and hold the ETF, I suggest to monitor carefully, and attempt to buy on weakness, below 38 if possible. This strategy would be best for a long term holder, especially if you plan on exploiting the yield, which is highest in Dec and June. Options and Equity- ( 4-6 months)- If my thesis is correct, we should test 52 week highs rather easily in the back half of the year, especially in Q1 2016. Currently the Feb option contracts look very attractive, but don’t have large trading volumes. The Feb 38 put has a quote of about 2.05, and the 41 call is trading at about 1.28, with open interest of 125 and 268 respectively. The bid/ask spreads are reasonable. Lastly the Feb 35 put (has had trading volume past 2 days), is trading at about 1.27, which provides us with two different options for the short put leg of this strategy. Maximum income trade: A strangle is where you buy or sell a put and a call option on the SAME underlier, with the same expiration, but at different strikes. 1- This trade is meant to take advantage of the defined 52 week range, and maximize income while we wait for those distributions, as well as providing protection on both sides of the trade. In order to minimize the risk of being naked on the call side, make sure you also simultaneously buy the ETF. If you sell the Feb 38 put, you stand a better chance of the contract forcing you to buy, with the premium giving you a cost basis under 36 a share. Then sell the Feb 41 call, which gets you out if we break the 52 week high, and go past 42. Total premium collected is (2.05+1.27) 3.57 or 357 dollars per strangle. 2 – Another way to trade the same short strangle is to sell the Feb 35 put for 1.27 and sell the Feb 41 call for 1.28, essentially adding (1.27+1.28) 2.55 or 255 dollars of premium against an entry point of about 38.50. This is essentially selling both sides of the 1 year trading range. Both strategies work, depending on that day’s trading volume which is relatively thin. You can always enter the equity trade first. The premiums have a lot of time decay left, so they won’t fluctuate too much as the ETF itself has been relatively range bound. The first option provides more premium, but gives you a higher cost basis and a higher probability of getting put. The second one essentially gives you 1 dollar less in premium, but has a small likelihood of getting put, so you would buy the ETF and hope it stays within the range through FEB, so you can collect both dividends, and keep the premium. 3 – If the above seems complicated (and also difficult), you can simply just buy covered calls at a 2:1 ratio, adding the 1.27 to your yield, and hoping for a breakout above the 52 week high. After you are called you are left with half your original position, and have collected twice the amount in distributions. This is another way to hold this position while gaining extra premium, protection, and time to collect that fat payment in June. The main idea behind all the above trades is to protect yourself from losing by buying in at the higher end of the range, but also exploit the rather flat trading range that offers option traders ways to collect premium for extra yield. I personally will be looking to hold this position for over a year, so not only will I examine the options, but I will also anticipate a full year’s worth of distributions. Overall, the above are all trading IDEAS, and are subject to the conditions of the market at the exact time of attempted execution. Since this thesis really appeals to dividend investors for the 3.17% yield FEZ currently pays, the options are a way to significantly add yield and more protection for the position. Its a win win, especially if you intend on owning the ETF for simple and cheap exposure, getting put either way just gives you a better entry price. To wrap it up, it all depends on your level of trading skills, your broker (how well they can execute a trade), market conditions, fees, time length, purpose, and many other factors that ultimately decide how you can achieve the maximum risk reward and income at the same time, while being protected not only in your FEZ position, but in your portfolio in general from the Dow’s recent demise. In Conclusion to this rather lengthy but detailed comparison, I firmly believe, based on the past, present, and future opportunities, results, and catalysts, that a reallocation of capital from U.S. large cap exposure, over to European large cap exposure through the FEZ, presents the best risk/reward relationship in the face of grave danger and uncertainty here in the states. Editor’s Note: This article discusses one or more securities that do not trade on a major U.S. exchange. Please be aware of the risks associated with these stocks. Disclosure: I/we have no positions in any stocks mentioned, but may initiate a long position in FEZ over the next 72 hours. (More…) I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article. Additional disclosure: We are also long Banco Santander (SAN) This article contains information related to trading equity options. Please be advised on the additional risks involved. Never make a decision without doing your own research.