2 High Yielders Decimated By The Russia-Ukraine War: Is Now The Time To Buy?

As the Russia-Ukraine war moves forward, the European economy remains in a fragile state.

The Kremlin has stopped energy exports, and the SPDR Portfolio Europe ETF (ARCA: SPEU) is down roughly 35% year-to-date. Investors may now want to turn to European equities, as certain stocks may appear undervalued.

Additionally, multinationals that have a large number of sales in the U.S., and earn income in dollars, will find balance sheets in a stronger position, thus providing investors with increased dividends or share repurchase programs.

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These two high yielding European equities are benefiting from sales growth and share buybacks.

• GSK plc (NYSE: GSK) offers a dividend yield of 5.48% or $1.59 per share annually, through quarterly payments, with a decent track record of increasing its dividends once in the past year. The Brentford, U.K.-based biotech wields its might across several therapeutic classes, including respiratory, cancer, and antiviral, as well as vaccines. GSK, one of the largest firms in the pharmaceutical industry by total sales, raised its full year guidance to expect 2022 sales growth of between 6% to 8%, previously 5% to 7%, and adjusted operating profit growth of between 13% to 15%, previously 12% to 14%, from the company's last year-ahead outlook.
• British American Tobacco plc (NYSE: BTI) offers a dividend yield of 7.75% or $2.79 per share annually, making quarterly payments, with a notable track record of increasing its dividends for three consecutive years. The London-based company is neck-and-neck with Philip Morris International (NYSE: PM) to be the largest listed global tobacco company, and its tobacco brands include Dunhill, Kent, Pall Mall, Lucky Strike, and Rothmans, and it also owns Newport and Camel in the U.S. In the first half of 2022, British American Tobacco repurchased 37.7 million shares at a cost of £1.3 billion as part of its £2 billion share repurchase program for 2022, and expects to generate £40 billion of free cash flow before dividends over the next five years.