«ΟΤΑΝ ΧΡΕΟΚΟΠΗΣΟΥΝ ΑΓΟΡΑΖΟΥΜΕ ΕΕΕΚ ΟΤΕ ΚΑΙ ΕΘΝΙΚΗ» ...

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"I’ll start with the Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company S.A.  Outside of buying a prime tourist property on one of Greece’s picturesque islands, this is probably the safest and most durable investment you can make

in the Eastern Mediterranean.  Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling is a bottler of Coca-Cola products. The company produces, sells, and distributes carbonated soft drinks juices, waters, sports and energy drinks, and other ready-to-drink beverages.  Drinks makers tend to be recession resistant, though a deep enough recession will bite into Hellenic’s sales, as would a prolonged tourism drought.  The company trades for a modest 0.73 times sales, though it will almost certainly get cheaper in the event of a Greek default.

Another stock to consider is Hellenic Telecommunications Organization SA .  I was explaining my bullishness on the global telecom sector to a colleague recently, and his reply struck me as profound: “Even if the world ends, people are still going to want to call and talk about it.”  While folksy in a Yogi Berra-esque sort of way, it is nonetheless true.  Fixed-line telecom has been in decline in the Western world, but mobile telecom and internet have become essential services for modern life.  Hellenic Telecom provides these essential services in Greece, Albania, Bulgaria, and Romania. The stock trades at just 0.34 times sales, though again, I have little doubt it will get cheaper.

Finally, investors should keep an eye on National Bank of Greece SA , the largest and most influential Greek banking group with operations in Turkey, the United Kingdom, South Eastern Europe, Cyprus, Malta, Egypt, and South Africa. We all know what happened to the American banking sector in the 2008 meltdown, of course.  But in 2009, many of the banks that survived the meltdown delivered triple-digit gains for investors brave enough to scoop up shares at the bottom.   National Bank of Greece trades for just 0.36 times book value.  Of course, in the event of Greek default, that “book value” won’t be worth all that much.