Three Foreign Closed-ends to Buy Now

Article Excerpt

SWISS HELVETIA FUND $17.44 (New York symbol SWZ; CWA Rating: Conservative) invests mainly in large-capitalization Swiss stocks. The manager of the fund is Hottinger Group, which, as Banque Hottinger, dates back to 1786. The Swiss economy has picked up lately, despite slower growth in the U.S., one of Switzerland’s largest markets. Switzerland’s growth rate is now forecast at 2.5% this year, just under its 2.6% growth in 2006. Still, a longer-term recovery in the U.S. will help the export-oriented Swiss economy even further. The fund’s top holdings are Roche Holdings (pharmaceuticals) at 12.2%; Nestle SA (food & beverages), 11.6%; UBS AG (banking), 10.4%; Novartis AG (health care and pharmaceuticals), 8.1%; Basilea Pharaceutica (biopharma), 6.5%; Actelion NV (Swiss biopharma), 5.3%; Credit Suisse Group (financial services), 5.3%; Galenica Holding (Swiss pharma), 4.8%; Julius Baer (Swiss-based private bank), 3.4%; and Syngenta AG (agribusiness), 3.3%. The industry exposure of the stocks in the $666.7 million fund is as follows: Pharmaceuticals, 22.0%; Banks, 15.6%; Biotechnology, 15.5%; Food &…