Looking to short the euro? You could buy shares of Sanofi, the world`s fourth-largest drug company by sales, because of a majority of the company`s sales are outside the Euro-area, while its costs are mostly denominated in euros.

The French drugmaker has about a third of its business in the US, and less than that in Europe, Chris Viehbacher, the company`s CEO told CNBC Asia`s "Squawk Box" on Wednesday. According to Reuters, just 27% of its annual sales were generated in Europe last year.

"So we`re diversified from a market point of view," Viehbacher said. "We are also relatively insulated from all of the euro issues. You could consider us short euros. We have 75% of our revenue outside the euro zone."

Best known for Plavix, a blood-thinning drug, the company is now expanding in emerging markets including China, India and Brazil. According to Sanofi, sales in emerging markets rose more than 10% last year to 10 billion euros (USD 12.72 billion), or 30.3% of total sales.

Sanofi`s shares, which have fallen more than 5% since the beginning of the year, gained about 16% last year even as the broader CAC 40 Index (Euronext Paris: .FCHI) fell nearly 17%. Sanofi closed almost 2% higher in Paris on Tuesday.

Beat Wittmann, CEO of Dynapartners, a Zurich-based asset manager, says Sanofi is a good investment because of its growing presence in emerging markets.

"People look for yield, and they are the ideal way to play globalization," Wittmann told CNBC. "From an investor`s point of view, they are a very defensive investment. They offer good yield."

The company already pays a 5% dividend yield and CEO Viehbacher said the company`s payout ratio, which measures the amount of earnings paid to shareholders, is moving to 50%.

But the company is also facing challenges. Plavix, its best-selling drug, ran out of patent protection last week and will face increasing competition from cheaper generic copies. Viehbacher said he expects a fall of 12-15% in the company`s earnings per share this year.

By CNBC`s Jean Chua.

Copyright 2011 cnbc.com

First Published:May 24, 2012 8:30 AM IST