Euros Dominate ZR #1

Not even counting pink sheet-trading European stocks such as BASF and E.On, the following companies have also been upgraded to Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) this morning:

Delirium (No Tremens) for DT

We start with Europe’s largest telecommunications carrier, Germany’s Deutsche Telekom (DT - Analyst Report).  Top-line growth in its wireless services keeps the company’s outlook encouraging, especially as its T-Mobile USA business continues to outperform expectations.

The stock is trading marginally down this Friday morning, however, though staying over the recently-reached $22 per share mark, a stock price not seen by the company in quite some time.  Down around 12 cents at mid-day, the shares have sold off about one half of one percent.

NTT Remains an Entity

Keeping on the theme of market-leading foreign telecom stocks for another moment, Nippon Telegraph & Telephone (NTT - Analyst Report) also sees its Zacks Rank upped from a #2 (Buy) to a #1 (Strong Buy).  Japan’s largest telecom carrier is up about a quarter thus far today, but unlike DT, NTT’s stock has been hovering in the low $20s for most of the year.

Excerpting from the latest research report on NTT from Zacks senior telecom industry analyst David Weissman, CFA, he points out that "NTT’s DoCoMo unit recently started a new sales promotion campaign: DoCoMo 2.0, launching FOMA 904i series mobile devices that enable users to carry two phone numbers and two mail addresses with a single handset. FOMA 904i series have other advanced features including online video gaming -- Chokkan Game -- that is played using intuitive mode."

Royal Bank of Canada Gets Red Carpet

A third foreign large-cap (not including the pink sheets mentioned previously in this spot) company, Royal Bank of Canada (RY - Snapshot Report), is yet another Zacks Rank #1 stock as of this morning.  Zacks senior foreign bank analyst Ann Heffron, CFA recently had this to say about RY: "Building on its strong home base, Royal Bank of Canada has been shifting more of its focus to the U.S. market in recent years. The firm generates about one-quarter of revenue from the U.S., and this percentage is expected to increase due to acquisitions."

The upgrade in Zacks Rank today has not materialized into any positive development in the company’s share price so far, however.  Down to around the $53 mark as of mid-Friday, the bank is currently discounted roughly one-and-an-eighth percent.  This is, however, after a steady multi-year run-up that has more than doubled in the last three years or so.

Read the full analyst report on DT.

Read the full analyst report on NTT.

Read the full analyst report on RY.