Three High-Risk/High-Reward Stocks for the Greek Elections

On Sunday, Greece will hold a national election. This election will be the second in just over a month, as no Greek political party could form a government following the first election. Regardless of Sunday's results, there are three European stocks that are likely to move.

Market Cap: $1.82 billion

Beta: 1.98 National Bank of Greece is a Greek financial institution. The company offers a broad range of different financial services including corporate and investment banking and retail banking. The stock's high beta of almost 2.0 shows that it reacts extremely strongly to European news. National Bank of Greece is down approximately 10% year-to date, but over 50% from its highs in February. A pro-bailout result in the Greek election will most likely make the shares rally higher, whereas an anti-bailout result could see them moving lower.

Market Cap: $23.6 billion

Beta: 2.77 ING Groep is a Dutch financial institution with a global presence. It operates in two different business areas: banking, and insurance and investment management. The stock's beta of 2.77 indicates that, if the markets move 1% on the Greek election results, ING will move approximately 2.77%. Thus, ING is a good high-risk/high-reward play. Pro-bailout result in the Greek election are likely to give ING a nice boost, but shorting the stock might be a profitable trade if an anti-bailout party wins on Sunday.

Market Cap: $8.03 billion

Beta: 2.25 AEGON N.V. is another Netherlands-based company. It provides life insurance, pensions and asset management services. The company also has some limited banking activities. AEGON's beta is slightly lower than ING's, but it is still expected to move more than twice as much as the overall market. This makes it another high-risk/high-reward stock for the Greek election. Similarly to National Bank of Greece and ING, a pro-bailout result in the election is likely to give AEGON shares a decent boost, but shorting the stock can be a profitable trade, if an anti-bailout party wins in the Greek election. Traders should note that all three stocks mentioned here are extremely volatile and it is highly probable that the Greek election results will cause big moves in them. Therefore, they provide savvy traders with a good understanding of the current political situation in Greece a good chance to make large profits. However, they can also double or even triple losses when compared to the overall markets, should traders take the wrong side. Consequently, traders should tread carefully when taking positions in these names. You can follow me on Twitter

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