When looking for stocks to buy, many UK investors naturally have a home bias. Not only does this make sense, but the returns can be explosive. Just look at the one-year performance of FTSE 100 gold miner Fresnillo (+175%) or engine maker Rolls-Royce (+98%).
That said, it’s a big wide world out there, with plenty of high-quality overseas companies to choose from. Here are two that I think ISA investors might want to run the rule over today.
US tech giant
Let’s start with a stock that will be familiar to all readers. That’s Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), the tech behemoth that’s woven into the daily fabric of most people’s lives in the West these days.
Indeed, since I started writing this, I’ve had a knock at the door to collect my latest Amazon parcel. Later on, I’ll probably read my Kindle, tell Alexa to put music on, or perhaps watch a film on Prime Video (all Amazon platforms).
However, the company has been in the news this week for its cloud computing platform (AWS). This behind-the-scenes service suffered an outage, impacting apps and websites across the world. These included Snapchat, Reddit, Duolingo, Roblox, Lloyds, BT, Vodafone, and around 2,000 other firms, organisations, and governments.
Of course, this high-profile glitch may cause some reputational damage (it was the biggest internet disruption since CrowdStrike‘s last year). Any more such incidents might even drive some blue-chip customers to rival cloud platforms.
On the other hand, the outage also highlights just how important AWS has become in providing mission-critical cloud computing infrastructure. In the last quarter, this division grew its revenue 17.5%, while providing over 50% of Amazon’s operating profit.
AWS has already reached an annualised revenue run rate of over $123bn. Yet, CEO Andy Jassy still thinks it’s early days relative to the long-term market opportunity.
Remember that 85% to 90% of worldwide IT spend is still on-premises versus in the cloud. In the next 10 to 15 years, that equation is going to flip, further accelerated by companies’ excitement for leveraging AI.
Andy Jassy.
Right now, Amazon stock is trading at roughly 16.5 times this year’s forecast operating cash flow. This is one of its lowest valuations ever!
European luxury giant
LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton (OTC:LVMH.F) is a luxury fashion juggernaut. It owns a mind-boggling collection of brands, including Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior, Fendi, Dom Pérignon, Tiffany & Co, Bvlgari, and a load more I’ve never heard of (and probably can’t afford).
In the first nine months of the year, LVMH generated revenue of €58.1bn. While that sounds a lot — and it is, obviously — this was actually down slightly from the same period last year. If middle-class aspirational buyers in the US and China carry on tightening their belts, sales could dip further. High gold and silver prices are also a challenged for its Watches and Jewellery division.
However, the tide might now be turning for the luxury sector. In Q3, LVMH returned to growth, with Asia (particularly China) showing “a noticeable improvement in trends“. This region should present sizeable long-term growth opportunities among the rising middle classes and super-rich.
The stock is down 31% since April 2023. Now trading at a reasonable 22 times forward earnings, I think it deserves a place on investors’ radars.
