Three Foreign Stock Plays on U.S. Soil

Sometimes finding a winning foreign stock is as simple as reciting "A ... D ... R."

An ADR, short for American depositary receipt, offers U.S. investors the opportunity to diversify into international markets without the bother of purchasing shares on overseas exchanges. ADRs are issued by U.S. banks that hold actual shares of a foreign company's stock.

Every day, hundreds of major overseas-based companies -- including mega-cap names such as BP(BP Quote), Sony(SNE Quote) and Toyota(TM Quote) -- see their shares traded as ADRs on U.S. stock markets. ...