The Top 100 International Growth Stocks: Your Guide to Creating a Blue Chip International Portfolio for Higher Returns and

Serious international investors able to choose their own stocks will find a useful reference in The Top 100 International Growth Stocks. Coauthor Peggy Edersheim Kalb is a financial journalist and former Smith Barney money manager. Scott E. Kalb manages the Smith Barney International Equity Fund. From a universe of 10,000 non-U.S. companies, the authors selected 100 relatively large ones (minimum market capitalization $500 million) that have long demonstrated "an exceptional ability to grow their businesses at superior rates in all kinds of conditions, climates, and political environments." The book offers a three-page report on each of the 100 companies, most of which trade on U.S. markets. Among the top 100 are many household names, from Heineken to Sony. But the list also includes dozens of companies that U.S. investors should know but probably don't, such as Cifra, Mexico's largest food retailer; Astra of Sweden, one of the world's largest drug companies; and Hutchison Whampoa, Hong Kong's preeminent conglomerate. Aside from providing investment leads, the book is a fascinating tour of companies that are shaping the world's economic future. --Barry Mitzman