The major Swiss stocks to buy and sell

The Swiss stock exchange is of interest to many investors because many of the stocks listed there are very popular. Therefore, if you are also interested in investing in stocks on this market, we are now offering you the opportunity to find out about the most important Swiss stocks available on the European markets, which you can buy or trade. On this page we will also give you some tips on how to carry out analyses of these stocks.

Which Swiss stocks can be bought or sold in Europe?

As a European investor, you are probably wondering whether it is possible to buy Swiss stocks or to trade them online. The answer to this question is, of course, positive, but you should also be aware here that not all securities available in European countries can be traded on this exchange, i.e. the SIX Swiss Exchange, which is the Zurich Stock Exchange.

The vast majority of the stocks you can buy or sell are the main Swiss stocks, i.e. the stocks of the companies that make up the Swiss benchmark stock index SMI. The companies that make up this index are selected on the basis of their total market capitalisation but also on the basis of their turnover, which is calculated each year in September. When the SMI is calculated, the largest companies in the SPI index, comprising companies listed on the SIX and companies whose stocks are listed on the SIX, are taken into account.

Finally, it should be noted that the value of this stock market index corresponds to the division of the market capitalisation of each of its components by a set of arbitrary divisors.

Which Swiss shares are included in the SMI index?

As we have just seen, it is primarily the Swiss shares included in the SMI index that you will be able to trade or buy to add to your stock portfolio. This index includes the 20 most important companies in the country.
Among these 20 companies, the most important and also the world-famous ones are :

• Nestlé in the agri-food sector
• Novartis in the pharmacology sector
• Roche in the pharmacology sector
• UBS in the financial and banking products and services sector
• Zurich Insurances in the insurance sector

Then there are other companies including :

• ABB in the industrial sector
• Richemont in the luxury sector
• Lonza in the chemical sector
• Givaudan in the chemical sector
• Alcon in the pharmacology sector
• Swiss Re in the insurance sector
• Credit Suisse in the banking sector
• Lafarge Holcim in the Industry sector
• Geberit in the industrial sector
• SGS in the industrial sector
• Swisscom in the telecommunications sector
• Swiss Life Holding in the insurance sector
• Swatch Group in the watchmaking sector
• Adecco in the temporary work sector

As you can see, 37.52% of the Swiss SMI index is made up of companies in the health sector, 24.03% in the consumer goods sector, 21.62% in finance, 13.63% in industry, 1.84% in raw materials and 1.35% in telecommunications. This ranking was made in January 2021, we draw your attention to the fact that this ranking, as well as the very composition of the SMI index, is likely to change over time.

How to effectively analyse the main Swiss stocks:

The analysis of Swiss stocks is done in the same way as for other shares on the stock exchange. Before buying or selling a Swiss share, you will therefore need to perform several types of analysis to determine whether a share is likely to rise or fall with technical analysis on the one hand and fundamental analysis on the other.

Technical analysis consists of identifying specific price movements in order to determine a trend that is accelerating or will reverse and assess the volatility and therefore the risk on a stock market value. Today, it is facilitated by stock market charts made available to investors by brokers, which, in addition to being customisable, allow the main technical indicators to be displayed live.

The other type of analysis is fundamental analysis, which in this case is the study of external factors that may influence these Swiss securities and their stock market price. These may include decisions by the Swiss National Bank, major events affecting a company or a business sector, the publication of financial results, partnership, sale or merger and acquisition transactions, the arrival of new competitors on the market or changes in the Swiss franc exchange rate on the foreign exchange market.

In any case, it is essential that one and the same analysis is not sufficient before investing in the price of a Swiss share. It is by multiplying the sources of signals that you will have the best chance of predicting the evolution of a stock on the stock market.

How to buy or sell Swiss stocks?

There are different ways to buy Swiss stocks on the stock market depending on your investor profile and investment objectives.

The most common way is to add Swiss shares to a stock portfolio by buying them in cash. To do this, you simply place a buy order on a broker's platform for the number of shares you want. Once added to your portfolio, some Swiss yield stocks can generate a dividend. Swiss growth stocks are favoured by investors who hope to realise a capital gain when they are sold in the future.

Of course, in order to buy these Swiss stocks for cash, you must have a stock market account that allows you to store them. This can be a securities account.

If you are planning to make diversified investments in Swiss stocks, it is also possible to invest in an ETF or a FCP. These two products are in fact baskets of securities that include either only Swiss stocks or international stocks including Swiss shares. Generally, the ETF will follow a sector or benchmark index, whereas the FCP is managed by a fund manager who is responsible for its strategic composition.

Finally, if you don't want to have to manage a stock portfolio, you can also use an online derivative product such as CFDs. These contracts for difference are tools that allow you to trade on the rise or fall in the price of an asset, and therefore of a Swiss share in particular. The investor's gain or loss will thus correspond to the difference in the share price between the time of taking the position and the time of its closing.

Choose the method that best suits your investment style and your investor profile.