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

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. 


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>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”


Thematic (Sector/Industry)

<ul><li>Stan Druckenmiller just bought shares in Barrick Gold and Newmont Mining.</li><li>He thinks gold serves as a store of value, but only over the long run. It’s a hedge against any devaluation of the US Dollar.</li><li>He also seems to think that gold prices should go up in a scenario of lower interest rates, higher inflation rates or a combination of both.</li></ul>

Stan Druckenmiller just bought shares in Barrick Gold and Newmont Mining.He thinks gold serves as a store of value, but only over the long run. It’s a hedge against any devaluation of the US Dollar.He also seems to think that gold prices should go up in a scenario of lower interest rates, higher inflation rates or a combination of both.

Forensic Accounting

OLYMPUS CORPORATION manufactures optoelectronic products.  The Company's products include cameras, video sets, endoscopes for medicine and industrial use, microscopes, analytical equipment, office communication systems, laseroptical scanners, and ionic printers.

<ul>
<li>Perhaps the most important factor for any investment in Asia is assessing corporate governance.</li>
<li>There are few books on the subject, making it difficult to navigate.</li>
<li>I was thrilled to read Chinhwee Tan and Tom Robinson’s Asian Financial Statement Analysis.</li>
</ul>


Perhaps the most important factor for any investment in Asia is assessing corporate governance.
There are few books on the subject, making it difficult to navigate.
I was thrilled to read Chinhwee Tan and Tom Robinson’s Asian Financial Statement Analysis.


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.