Research from Asian Century Stocks, Asian Century Stocks

Michael Fritzell

Research from Asian Century Stocks

Providing financial journalism in the Asia-Pacific

Asian Century Stocks

Asian Century Stocks is a newsletter providing financial journalism for companies and stocks in the Asia-Pacific. 
The Asian Century Stocks logotype “百” stands for “one hundred” or a “century”. The economic centre of gravity is moving towards Asia. Yet most global investors are missing out.

Equity Bottom-Up

<ul><li>Orbis Japan Equity Fund recently wrote about auto supplier <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/koito-manufacturing-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:15841" rel="noopener">Koito Manufacturing (7276 JP)</a> in their <a href="https://substack.com/redirect/9ecb757d-eb06-44b8-836a-e25e2a92658e?j=eyJ1IjoiNGw4bzJ0In0.mRWyfA0pZX4OpuLi73L47WeYJ_ccqy9266JSt_5dbKo" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://substack.com/redirect/9ecb757d-eb06-44b8-836a-e25e2a92658e?j%3DeyJ1IjoiNGw4bzJ0In0.mRWyfA0pZX4OpuLi73L47WeYJ_ccqy9266JSt_5dbKo&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1731988981096000&amp;usg=AOvVaw28QVMvDwFXl0HOJcCfGTk1" rel="noopener">second-quarter 2024 letter</a>.</li><li>So, who is Koito? It’s the world’s largest manufacturer of automotive lighting products, serving primarily Japanese customers such as Toyota, Nissan and Honda.</li><li>What stood out in Orbis’s second-quarter letter is that Koito plans to return JPY 350 billion to shareholders in the next five years, more than half the current market cap. Rational capital allocation is rare in Japan, so this number caught my attention.</li></ul>

Orbis Japan Equity Fund recently wrote about auto supplier Koito Manufacturing (7276 JP) in their second-quarter 2024 letter.So, who is Koito? It’s the world’s largest manufacturer of automotive lighting products, serving primarily Japanese customers such as Toyota, Nissan and Honda.What stood out in Orbis’s second-quarter letter is that Koito plans to return JPY 350 billion to shareholders in the next five years, more than half the current market cap. Rational capital allocation is rare in Japan, so this number caught my attention.

Pan-Asia Catalysts/Events, Quiddity Advisors

Travis Lundy

Pan-Asia Catalysts/Events

Quiddity Advisors

Event-Driven

<ul>
<li>An interview in the <strong><a href="https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXZQOUC05BL30V00C24A7000000/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nikkei</a></strong> of <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/koito-manufacturing-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:15841:1" rel="noopener">Koito Manufacturing (7276 JP)</a> CFO Takahito OTAKE offered the comment that Koito Mfg expected a shareholder return of 130% a year through March 2029.</li>
<li>The stock popped 19% after lunch on that comment, then fell back to end up 5.0%.</li>
<li>This is the same pop as we saw end-March. Then it was +24.6% and it stayed up the next day. Same reason for the pop. This was an echo.</li>
</ul>


An interview in the Nikkei of Koito Manufacturing (7276 JP) CFO Takahito OTAKE offered the comment that Koito Mfg expected a shareholder return of 130% a year through March 2029.
The stock popped 19% after lunch on that comment, then fell back to end up 5.0%.
This is the same pop as we saw end-March. Then it was +24.6% and it stayed up the next day. Same reason for the pop. This was an echo.


Koito Mfg (7276) Bounces The Same as It Bounced in March On the Same News - An Echo? Meh Again.

<ul>
<li>With a new Medium-Term Management Plan and a buyback, the stock was cheap as of Thursday's close. It was less cheap after it went limit up +25% on Friday.</li>
<li>That put it in the camp of "it may go up more but probably not a lot". It has told you about big divs and buybacks.</li>
<li>But model it up and they need to do more buybacks. Both to meet share price gains and the needs of legions of potential cross-holders looking to sell. </li>
</ul>


With a new Medium-Term Management Plan and a buyback, the stock was cheap as of Thursday's close. It was less cheap after it went limit up +25% on Friday.
That put it in the camp of "it may go up more but probably not a lot". It has told you about big divs and buybacks.
But model it up and they need to do more buybacks. Both to meet share price gains and the needs of legions of potential cross-holders looking to sell. 


Koito Mfg - Stock Over-Pops on New MTMP/Buyback; There Will Be Overhang

<ul>
<li>
<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/koito-manufacturing-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:15841:1" rel="noopener">Koito Manufacturing (7276 JP)</a> is a $4bn marketcap (~$6bn sales) Toyota Group auto parts manufacturer specialising in lighting parts, famous for being a T.Boone Pickens target in the 1980s.</li>
<li>As Toyota Group's leaders restructure their cross-holdings and try to get to 1.0x PBR and a high enough ROE to sustain it, capital efficiency is on the block. </li>
<li>Koito today announced a revised Mid-Term Management Plan, a change in KPIs (higher), a large shareholder return plan, and a large buyback. As always, the fun is in the details.</li>
</ul>



Koito Manufacturing (7276 JP) is a $4bn marketcap (~$6bn sales) Toyota Group auto parts manufacturer specialising in lighting parts, famous for being a T.Boone Pickens target in the 1980s.
As Toyota Group's leaders restructure their cross-holdings and try to get to 1.0x PBR and a high enough ROE to sustain it, capital efficiency is on the block. 
Koito today announced a revised Mid-Term Management Plan, a change in KPIs (higher), a large shareholder return plan, and a large buyback. As always, the fun is in the details.


Koito Mfg (7276) - New Medium Term Plan, BIG Buyback, Even Bigger Shareholder Returns Planned

Head of Research, IPOs & Placements, Aequitas Research

Sumeet Singh

Head of Research, IPOs & Placements

IPOs and Placements coverage across Asia Pacific

Aequitas Research

We cover all listing across the Asia Pacific along with follow-up placements. As of Dec 2020, our team had covered 539 IPOs with a hit rate of 73.5% and 685 placements with a hit rate of 66.8%.

We combine fundamental bottom-up views with our proprietary quantitative framework to provide a holistic coverage across new listings and placements. Our coverage includes pre-IPO notes before the deal is launched, follow-up analysis once the deal is live and post-listing trading analysis as well.

<ul>
<li>Following up on our earlier cross-shareholding work, in this note we look to summarize our work so far by looking at where most of the selling will likely come.</li>
<li>Of the seven companies that we have looked at so far, collectively they have around US$102bn worth of shares to sell in 118 companies. </li>
<li>Of these, they have a combined stake of over US$1bn in 23 companies.</li>
</ul>


Following up on our earlier cross-shareholding work, in this note we look to summarize our work so far by looking at where most of the selling will likely come.
Of the seven companies that we have looked at so far, collectively they have around US$102bn worth of shares to sell in 118 companies. 
Of these, they have a combined stake of over US$1bn in 23 companies.


Japan Cross-Shareholding - Summary Matrix - Over US$100bn of Selling in 118 Companies

Japan

KOITO MANUFACTURING CO., LTD. produces lighting equipments for automobiles such as head and tail lights, rear combination lamps, and fog lamps.  The Company has  its production facilities in Japan, the US, the UK, Czech, China, Thailand, Taiwan, and India.  Koito Manufacturing also manufactures electronics parts for aircrafts including lighting equipments and oil pressure gauges.

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Koito Manufacturing (7276 JP)

Koito Mfgr － 2024 Update (7276 JP)

It’s the world’s largest manufacturer of automotive lighting products, serving primarily Japanese customers such as Toyota, Nissan and Honda.

Asian Century Stocks

Koito Mfg (7276) Bounces The Same as It Bounced in March On the Same News - An Echo? Meh Again.

Koito Mfg popped 19% today on an interview with the CFO showing as a headline in the Nikkei. The contents? The MTMP from 9 weeks ago and the end...

Travis Lundy

Koito Mfg - Stock Over-Pops on New MTMP/Buyback; There Will Be Overhang

Not a no-brainer to sell the first pop, but it models out to about 10% IRR to a reasonably aggressive future multiple. And the buyback invites...

Travis Lundy

Koito Mfg (7276) - New Medium Term Plan, BIG Buyback, Even Bigger Shareholder Returns Planned

Koito Mfg announces a MTM and a larbigge buyback. Cross-holders sold the last one; could sell this one too. Combo of accretion, div, EPS growth,...

Travis Lundy

Japan Cross-Shareholding - Summary Matrix - Over US$100bn of Selling in 118 Companies

Toyotal has just announced that it will buy back around 290m (around 2% of the stock) of its own shares from MS&AD, Tokio Marine, MUFG and SMFG. In...

Sumeet Singh

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