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

kaonavi,inc. provides human resources management cloud services. The Company offers talent database, organization tree diagram, employee list and questionnaire, and evaluation workflow, as well as employee data graph and information sort, application programming interface cooperation, and other services. kaonavi serves clients across Japan.

<ul>
<li>On Monday, I had the great pleasure to speak to Kaonavi’s (4435 JP - US$131 million) CFO, Kimitaka Hashimoto.</li>
<li>He provided color on Kaonavi’s second-quarter earnings result, which were released on 13 November and led to a negative reaction from the market.</li>
<li>In short, Kaonavi is a Japanese developer of talent management software. It helps companies manage their employees by solving staffing problems, designing their organizational structure, performance reviews, surveys, training, internal recruitment, etc.</li>
</ul>


On Monday, I had the great pleasure to speak to Kaonavi’s (4435 JP - US$131 million) CFO, Kimitaka Hashimoto.
He provided color on Kaonavi’s second-quarter earnings result, which were released on 13 November and led to a negative reaction from the market.
In short, Kaonavi is a Japanese developer of talent management software. It helps companies manage their employees by solving staffing problems, designing their organizational structure, performance reviews, surveys, training, internal recruitment, etc.


Has the Kaonavi Story Changed? (4435 JP )

Prada S.p.A. is an Italian fashion company that designs, manufactures, promotes and sells high-end leather goods, ready-to-wear and footwear through various brands.

<ul><li><a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/prada-s-p-a" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:889" rel="noopener">Prada S.P.A. (1913 HK)</a> (1913 HK —US$18 billion) is a strange beast.</li><li>It’s an Italian fashion group listed in Hong Kong, of all places. Many European and American investors ignore the name, which has caused Prada to trade at a considerable discount to its peers.</li><li>The first Prada shop was opened in 1913 by Mario Prada, a former leather goods salesman who imported English handbags and travel accessories and sold them to the Italian elite.</li></ul>

Prada S.P.A. (1913 HK) (1913 HK —US$18 billion) is a strange beast.It’s an Italian fashion group listed in Hong Kong, of all places. Many European and American investors ignore the name, which has caused Prada to trade at a considerable discount to its peers.The first Prada shop was opened in 1913 by Mario Prada, a former leather goods salesman who imported English handbags and travel accessories and sold them to the Italian elite.

Prada (1913 HK): High Fashion at 14x EV/Pretax Profit with an Alt-Data Catalyst

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.

<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.

Anxian Yuan China Holdings  / Equity Bottom-Up

Anxian Yuan China Holdings Limited is a holding company. The Company, through its subsidiaries, operates cemetary business.

<ul>
<li>Chinese cemetery operator with three main assets: the Anxian Yuan cemetery in Hangzhou, the Fushouyuan cemetery in Yinchuan and the Dachenshan cemetery in Niuxin Village, Guizhou Province</li>
<li>The stock is inexpensive at 6.1x trailing P/E with a 13.3% dividend yield that's covered by cash flows. Further, net cash represents 82% of market cap with limited contract liabilities.</li>
<li>Recent tomb sales has been weak for reasons that seem macro related. Other risks are historical share dilution: the 2020 rights issue was under-priced, 85% taken up by the founder. </li>
</ul>


Chinese cemetery operator with three main assets: the Anxian Yuan cemetery in Hangzhou, the Fushouyuan cemetery in Yinchuan and the Dachenshan cemetery in Niuxin Village, Guizhou Province
The stock is inexpensive at 6.1x trailing P/E with a 13.3% dividend yield that's covered by cash flows. Further, net cash represents 82% of market cap with limited contract liabilities.
Recent tomb sales has been weak for reasons that seem macro related. Other risks are historical share dilution: the 2020 rights issue was under-priced, 85% taken up by the founder. 


<ul>
<li>Japan's leading developer of talent management software, used by companies to manage their staff. Key selling points include staff deployment, periodic evaluations, surveys, training, internal recruitment</li>
<li>Low valuation at 2.1x EV/Sales, long-term operating margin guidance of 20%+ on top of predictable 20-30% sustainable growth</li>
<li>Near-Term catalysts include the recent releases of labor management service “Roum Mate”, budget control system called “Yojitsutic”</li>
</ul>


Japan's leading developer of talent management software, used by companies to manage their staff. Key selling points include staff deployment, periodic evaluations, surveys, training, internal recruitment
Low valuation at 2.1x EV/Sales, long-term operating margin guidance of 20%+ on top of predictable 20-30% sustainable growth
Near-Term catalysts include the recent releases of labor management service “Roum Mate”, budget control system called “Yojitsutic”


Buy-side analyst and portfolio manager, now focusing on an Asia related research service called Asian Century Stocks. Focus on long-term value with short-term catalysts.

Michael Fritzell
Research from Asian Century Stocks
• Asian Century Stocks

Has the Kaonavi Story Changed? (4435 JP )

Its 2QFY2025 result shocked the market. Estimated reading time: 10 minutes. On Monday, I had the great pleasure to speak to Kaonavi’s (4435 JP -...

Asian Century Stocks

Prada (1913 HK): High Fashion at 14x EV/Pretax Profit with an Alt-Data Catalyst

Prada (1913 HK —US$18 billion) is a strange beast. It’s an Italian fashion group listed in Hong Kong, of all places. Many European and American...

Asian Century Stocks

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

Anxian Yuan (922 HK)

High-quality Chinese cemetery stock at 6.1x P/E and a steady 13.3% dividend yield, though with recent headwinds and occasional share dilution in...

Asian Century Stocks

Kaonavi (4435 JP)

Recruit’s talent management SaaS platform at 2.1x EV/Sales with business model margins of 20%+ and sustainable growth well above 20%

Asian Century Stocks