Summer Quarterly Updates

Tachibana Eletech reported Q1 total income increased 18.9% yoy; revenue increased 6.7% yoy. This improvement was partly the result of strong industrial demand in Japan. The results are even more impressive because the market presumed that last quarter's results were good because customers moved forward purchases to avoid the impending consumption tax increase. Q1 results were the first that included the consumption tax increase, and the results would have been impressive even if there was no tax increase!

The company also upped its year end EPS guidance from ¥161.41 to ¥170. The stock has rallied recently but it is still selling for only 8 times EPS guidance.

Riken Keiki reported earnings increased 19% yoy. Revenue increased 6.6% yoy. This company is firing on all cylinders. Last year its earnings increased 14% and the year before it increased 22%. This is my best performing Japanese holding, increasing by 90% in the 18 months that I've held it. When I initially bought the stock 18 months ago, the fact that it was a netnet was my margin of safety. Now it has risen 90% and is no longer a netnet. The market has priced it more as a earnings growth engine. But the stock still trades below book and and at 11x EPS guidance. This is Ben Graham's value investing at work: buy a good cheap stock, and usually something good happens!

Fujimak reported a ¥ (38.39) loss per share versus ¥ 3.5 a year ago. Revenue decreased 5% yoy. This was a surprise...no... a shock! The company said much of this was the result of a natural pullback from its knockout Q4, when it earned ¥ 99 a share, and to a lesser extent the consumption tax increase.

The company gave an EPS guidance of ¥98, which I hope is true but I also fear may not be met. The company trades at 8x EPS guidance.

Now on to US stocks. Seaboard Corp had one of its best quarters in history. Because of record pork prices, EPS was $79 versus $33 a year ago. H1 EPS was $119 versus $81 a year ago. The stock didn't budge after the earnings reports. In fact it dropped a bit because of plunging pork futures. Pork meat was regularly around $0.80/lb for the last several years, then it suddenly jumped to a high of $1.30. Today, futures for delivery in the next several months is back at $0.90s. Next year delivery dropped but now is back in the 90s also! So the weak stock performance is understandable.

Kansas City Life Insurance reported Q2 earnings slight down. Q2 EPS was $0.77 versus $0.98 a year earlier and premium revenue was down 5%. Book value has grown steadily and now the stock trades at 2/3 book. It also pays a 2% dividend. I feel this is one undervalued and neglected company.

Investors Title Insurance Company reported earnings were down 20% yoy. Premium revenue was flat yoy, which is encouraging considering the exceptional refinancing activity last year. The decrease in earnings was primarily the result of increased commissions. The company now trades at 1.1x book.

Putprop pre-announced that the company's earnings will be approximately ZAR$1.50 vs ZAR$0.86 a year ago! That is a 75% increase and even after the stock jumped by 30% from my initial purchase, it is still trading at 6 times earnings!

IEHC reported Q1 EPS $0.17 versus $0.23 a year ago. Sales was down 4% yoy. I would've liked to see better yoy results, but last year's Q1 was exceptional. I don't really know what to make of this tiny company. I had hoped based on my reading that this company's sales would take off in the last several quarters. But this hasn't happened. The company's sales are quite erratic. I'll pay close attention to this one in the coming quarters.