World's Best Water Stock
Claymore S&P Global Water ETF Top International Commodity Investment
Claymore's new Exchange Traded Fund mirrors the superstar performance of the S&P Global Water Index, made up of 50 of the world's best water company investments.
Demand for water continues to surge, particularly in highly-populated and fast-growing nations. In the 21st century, the global importance of water will eclipse that of oil. Water was, is, and will always be essential for life.
It should come as no surprise, then, that water company stocks have easily surpassed Wall Street market averages for over 10 years. One water company stock index has outperformed its competition, earning over 22% each year since 2001. That best-of-breed performer is the S&P Global Water Index.
The S&P Global Water Index (GWI) boasts 50 of the world's best water companies. GWI has about the same number of companies in the following two categories:
- water utilities and infrastructure services such as water supply, testing, purification, well-drilling, waste treatment and pipeline construction
- water equipment, instruments and materials such as water treatment appliances, chemicals, pumps, meters and counting devices.
The average company in the water index has a market capitalization of US$5.72 billion. The largest company's capitalization exceeds $69 billion; the smallest company's capitalization is slightly less than $300 million.
Top Five S&P Water Index Countries
Buying a share of GWI's portfolio is like owning an international trade business specializing in global water supplies and services. As the list below shows, the index is mostly highly concentrated with companies from the United States, European Union and Japan.
- U.S. (21 water companies, 28% of total country weighting)
- France (2, 19%)
- Japan (5, 17%)
- U.K. (5, 14%)
- Italy (4, 6%).
The top five countries represent some 80% of total country weightings.
Top Utilities & Water Infrastructure Companies
The following are the most heavily-weighted utilities and water infrastructure stocks in the GWI:
- Veolia Environnement - VE on NYSE (France, 9.9% of total index weighting)
- Suez - SZE on NYSE (France, 9.4%)
- United Utilities - UU on NYSE (U.K., 5.4%).
Top Equipment, Instruments & Materials Companies
The following water equipment stocks lead the equipment, instruments and materials category:
- Mitsubishi Heavy - MHVYF on OTC (Japan, 7% of total index weighting)
- Kubota - KUB on NYSE (Japan, 4.6%)
- ITT - ITT on NYSE (U.S., 4.3%)
- Danaher - DHR on NYSE (U.S., 4.2%)
- Nalco Holdings Inc - NLC on NYSE (U.S., 3.4%)
- Kurita Water Industries KTWIF on OTC (Japan, 3.1%)
- Pentair Inc - PNR on NYSE (U.S., 3%).
The Claymore S&P Global Water ETF Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) will launch on June 4, 2007. Listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange as ticker symbol CWW, the Claymore ETF mirrors the S&P Global Water Index and also appears on the American Stock Exchange under symbol CGW.
Investors with the credible belief that demand for water will persist through the roughest of business cycles can now invest in a share of 50 world-class water companies. Previously, only the wealthiest could afford to buy positions in each of the 50 water companies.
As was the case for the Claymore Brazil-Russia-India-China ETF, the launch date and international trade performance statistics for the Claymore S&P Global Water ETF will be announced in an upcoming blog.
A special thank you to Mr. William Brennan for sharing his deep knowledge and insights about the worldwide water industry. Bill was the portfolio architect who engineered the strategic Claymore Global & Domestic Water Unit Investment Trusts (UIT) - the first structured water investment products launched in North America.
