If you are looking for a way to expand your portfolio beyond U.S. borders, an easy way to do it is to buy foreign stocks listed on U.S. exchanges. And you'll likely find dividend payers Unilever (UL 0.63%), Enbridge (ENB -1.21%), and TotalEnergies (TTE 1.10%) attractive foreign options to invest in right now. Here's a quick look at each.
Unilever refocuses on growth
With a market cap of $121 billion, U.K.-based Unilever is one of the largest consumer staples companies on Earth. It produces both food, cleaning, and hygiene, giving it a wide reach across the staples sector. Its brand portfolio includes names like Dove, Hellmann's, Axe, and Knorr, among many others. Notably, around 60% of the company's sales come from emerging markets, which provide long-term growth appeal as consumers in those areas move up the socioeconomic ladder.
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That said, the company has also been working to reposition itself in some important ways. For example, it has sold slower-growing businesses (tea) while buying smaller brands with greater growth potential (Liquid IV). Management has also been working to streamline its business, cutting out layers to speed up decision-making and tying pay more closely with performance. So there are multiple avenues for improvement. And management has been executing fairly well through the difficult post-pandemic period, raising prices fairly rapidly without significantly reducing volume.
UL Dividend Yield data by YCharts
Still, the stock is down 25% from its 2019 highs and yields nearly 3.8%. The dividend yield is toward the high side of the historical yield range, suggesting it remains a good time to buy Unilever stock.
Enbridge is a high-yield tortoise
Enbridge is a giant North American midstream company that hails from Canada. It owns the pipelines, storage, and transportation assets that help move oil and natural gas around the world. It also has a natural gas utility business and a small renewable power portfolio. Virtually all of its revenue comes from contracts or regulated businesses, which provides it with highly reliable cash flows to support its hefty 8.2% dividend yield. The yield is toward the high end of the company's historical yield range, hinting that the stock may be on sale today.
ENB Dividend Yield data by YCharts
Most recently, Enbridge has agreed to buy three natural gas utilities from Dominion Energy (D -1.02%). That will make it one of the largest operators in that niche in North America and, effectively, represents a doubling down on the "all of the above" energy strategy the company has been pursuing. The big bet here is that even as the world continues to shift toward cleaner alternatives, it will still need carbon fuels for decades to come. With 28 years' worth of annual dividend increases behind it, yield-focused investors looking for a reliable dividend payer should probably take a look today.
TotalEnergies is shifting with the world around it
While Enbridge is doubling down on carbon fuels, TotalEnergies is specifically looking to change with the world. That said, the moves the French company is making are deliberate and it isn't simply abandoning its oil and natural gas roots. The change is more subtle as management uses its oil and gas profits to fund investments in things like wind and solar power. At this point, integrated power, as the clean energy business is called, represents around 6.5% of segment adjusted net operating income.
The big draw here is that TotalEnergies gives you a way to invest in oil and natural gas while also providing a long-term hedge via the clean energy investments it is making. While you can find other energy stocks with higher yields (TotalEnergies' yield is currently around 4.7%), there are few other options that give you the mix of businesses that are found here. And while you could argue that BP and Shell are also expanding into clean energy, they both cut their dividends at about the same time they announced their renewable power intentions. TotalEnergies is making the same shift but didn't cut its dividend. If you are considering energy stocks, TotalEnergies' increasingly diversified portfolio might be a better way for you to play the space.
There are many foreign options
One of the mistakes that investors often make is only buying stocks based in the United States. There are so many other options, and many foreign companies can be bought on U.S. exchanges. Right now, meanwhile, investors can find fairly attractive dividends from foreign companies like Unilever, Enbridge, and TotalEnergies. Although each has a different story, all three will help add some geographic diversification and yield to your portfolio.
