The preferred in Germany typically have an extra "3" number - so BMW.DE has a BMW3.DE "preferred". "Preferred" in Europe means something differently than in the US, in Europe it means a share without voting right, sort of like a "B" share in the US. They typically pay a slightly higher dividend in in most cases they don't trade in the Pink sheets in the US at all, you need to buy them directly in Europe.
FWIW, I just bought KSB3.DE @417.25$ today ( bought and sold KSB.DE a short while ago). The preferred trades at ~10% discount to the voting shares in this case, which is less than with BMW.DE
KSB is a pump manufacturer in Germany that trades at fairly cheap metrics, has very good balances sheet with net cash, PE around 10 and a 12Euro dividend coming soon. They are controlled by a family holding, so I think having voting rights is not buying you much:
finance.yahoo.com
Pretty good summary here:
gurufocus.com
KSB has preannounced earnings to go up 10% to around 45-47Euro/share in 2012, which still would be below peak profit levels of ~60Euros/share. Peers in the US are XYL and in Europe Sulzer (the latter being in several business but pumps are the largest), just looking at an "unfiltered EV/EBITDA ratio, both trade at a >2x premium to KSB.DE/KBB3.DE. |
