Sweden’s Numbers Show What a Stock-Market Culture Can Deliver. Experts Now Recommend These Three Shares

Austria is debating pension funds and future funds for children, and the discussion has turned attention toward Sweden’s stock-market model. The comparison is presented as an opportunity to consider how a stronger investment culture could benefit companies, savers and the wider economy.

A study published last year found that 508 companies went public in Sweden between 2016 and 2023. France, Italy and Germany together recorded 450 listings over the same period. Sweden has only about 1.5 million more residents than Austria, yet its number of listed companies far exceeds the size of Austria’s stock market.

The article identifies two main reasons for Sweden’s performance: corporate law that favors growth and a widely accepted culture of share ownership. A more active capital market, it argues, could give people easier access to higher returns and provide companies with a larger source of capital. That could also reduce the departure of innovative founders to places more friendly to capital, such as the United States.

The outlook for September remains uncertain. The month is traditionally considered the weakest for stock markets, and the past week already pointed in that direction. Long-term investors with broadly diversified portfolios, however, should not be overly concerned by the strength or weakness of a single month.

The article warns that the Iran and Ukraine wars are pushing up energy prices, making an interest-rate increase by the European Central Bank next week appear certain. A U.S. rate increase remains less certain, while developments in the bond market also require attention. Peter Reichel of Bank Oddo BHF said strong corporate earnings and dynamic profit expectations had supported share prices, but the autumn could remain stormy and become riskier.

Among the shares discussed is German engine manufacturer Deutz. A supervisory board member recently made a substantial insider purchase. Warburg raised its price target for the €12.84 share from €13.20 to €19 and maintained a Buy rating, implying 48% upside. The analysis house cited Deutz’s acquisition of defense-equipment maker FFG, saying the deal could lift the company to a new level and represented more than a few defense orders linked to the Ukraine war.

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Certainly more than a few fine defense orders against the backdrop of the Ukraine war.