Invest in Europe with these attractively priced stocks: Fund manager

Investors should look to the unloved Europe region for opportunities, according to fund manager Sean Peche, who said there are some “very attractively priced” companies in the region.

Europe has fallen into disfavor, Ranmore Fund Management’s Peche told CNBC’s Silvia Amaro — and investors have been distracted by Donald Trump’s United States. win the election.

“At the same time that Europe was struggling, you had this Trump euphoria,” Peche said. “So everyone rushed to invest in the United States … But running away to the last, the brightest thing is not normally a good way to make money.”

Peche shrugged off investors’ concerns about France, which – with Germany – has been in the political turmoil in recent weeks. French President Emmanuel Macron named Francois Bayrou as his new prime minister last week after fall of Michel Barnier’s government.

Macron called a snap election in June that yielded a result without a clear majority, sparking months of political chaos and gridlock.

But Peche remains unmoved. “Maybe the euro will fall, probably not. And the companies we own are very attractive in price,” he added.

These stocks include the French bank BNP Paribas – which noted that the book value (or net worth) has grown consistently – and the Dutch investment bank ABN Amrowhich has a dividend yield of 10.2%. “She’s very attractive,” Peche said.

Looking at the United Kingdom, the fund manager said that the stocks “attractive” as Associated British foodswhich owns retail giant Primark, were also ignored by investors.

“Primark is doing really well. It’s a very diversified business with [a] great management team. I’m not going to wake up tomorrow and find out the management team did something stupid,” he said.

“They have an attractive price. We have a good dividend. They buy shares, but it is out of favor because it is a mid-cap and it is listed in the United Kingdom.”

Peche is bullish on mid-cap companies on the other side of the Atlantic, such as the US gaming giant Mattel.

With household brands like Barbie and Hot Wheels under its umbrella, the toy maker has diversified beyond its core products.

Mattel’s management team has “transformed the business so that debt is now very manageable, and they have launched a $1 billion purchase” said Peche.

The release of a new animated Barbie Netflix series in November and a second documentary series in September that traces Mattel’s rise give the toy maker — currently valued at about $6.2 billion — “potential for growth,” Peche said .

Mattel saw a sharp increase in purchases of Barbie toys after the resounding success of the movie “Barbie”. in 2023, the the highest revenue that year’s film grossed more than $1.4 billion worldwide. He also produced games for hit movies like “Moana” and “Wicked,” though the latter hit a snag and was forced to pull its line of character dolls after a package misprint linked to a pornographic site.

In October, both Mattel and competitors Hasbro lowered its year-end guidance as toy sales declined during the third quarter. Mattel said it expects sales for the final three months of the year to be “comparable to a slight decline” from its previous guidance update.

— CNBC’s Kristian Burt contributed to this report.