Prosper From Europe's Recovery with T. Rowe Price European Stock

Talk about about-faces. As well as the U.S. stock market has performed over the past year, European bourses have done even better. Two years after the near-collapse of the euro, the euro zone’s economy is finally on the mend and may emerge from recession by the end of the year. One of the best ways to play the recovery is with T. Rowe Price European Stock (symbol PRESX). The no-load fund, managed since 2005 by Dean Tenerelli, has topped its benchmark, the MSCI Europe index, in six of the past eight calendar years, including 2013.

The 75-stock portfolio holds com­panies of all sizes from developed European countries. But, says the London-based Tenerelli, “they are not the typical blue chips people see in many other funds.” He uses estimates of a company’s future free cash flow (the cash left over after the capital expenditures needed to maintain a business) to determine its current value and buys a stock when it’s selling below that figure. “I do not focus on growth,” Tenerelli says. “But I find a lot of interesting opportunities in slower-growing companies that the market overlooks because they seem boring.”

Spanish stocks boosted the fund’s results over the past year. These include broadcasters Atresmedia Corp. and Mediaset España, which have surged since Tenerelli began buying them—Atresmedia last spring and Mediaset late last year. Also contri­buting to the big one-year gain were Scandinavian financials, such as Nordea and Swedbank.

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