T Rowe Price Japan Fund Starts 4 Positions in 4th Quarter

Guru reports quarterly portfolio

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Jan 16, 2018
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Archibald Ciganer, portfolio manager of the T Rowe Price Japan Fund, disclosed four new buys during fourth-quarter 2017: Shimano Inc. (TSE:7309, Financial), SG Holdings Co. Ltd. (TSE:9143, Financial), Zojirushi Corp. (TSE:7965, Financial) and ARUHI Corp. (TSE:7198, Financial).

Shimano

Ciganer invested in 57,000 shares of Shimano at an average price of 15,330 Japanese yen per share. With this transaction, the fund manager expanded his portfolio 1.09%.

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Shimano primarily manufactures bicycle components, including freewheels, gears, derailments and brakes. Even though the company trades above its median price-sales value, Shimano still has high profitability, driven by expanding operating margins and above-average Greenblatt return on capital. Shimano’s operating margin and Greenblatt return on capital both outperform 80% of global leisure companies.

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Shimano also has strong financial strength: the company has robust interest coverage of 364.01 and a solid Altman Z-score of 18.83.

SG Holdings

Ciganer invested in 362,200 shares of SG Holdings at an average price of 2144.15 yen per share. The fund manager boosted his portfolio 1% with this transaction.

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SG Holdings provides logistics oriented solutions to real estate, human resource and other businesses. The company started trading on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Dec. 13, 2017, at around 1,906 yen per share.

Zojirushi

Ciganer invested in 403,400 shares of Zojirushi at an average price of 1038.69 yen per share. With this transaction, the fund manager increased his portfolio 0.56%.

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Zojirushi markets various household and cooking appliances. According to the company website, Zojirushi has developed “a wide range of thermal mugs and bottles” through vacuum-insulated technology. The company’s profitability ranks 7 out of 10: as the company has expanding operating margins and return on invested capital, Zojirushi has good economic moat.

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ARUHI

Ciganer invested in 171,500 shares of ARUHI at an average price of 1293.83 yen per share. With this transaction, the fund manager increased his portfolio 0.27%.

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ARUHI is a specialty finance company engaged in the provision and brokerage of home loans, insurance agencies and bank agencies.

See also

GuruFocus tracks a wide variety of Chinese and Japanese funds, including the Matthews China Fund (Trades, Portfolio), the Matthews Japan Fund (Trades, Portfolio) and the Hennessy Japan Fund (Trades, Portfolio). You can view global trades in gurus’ portfolios by subscribing to one of our non-U.S. regions.

Disclosure: I do not have positions in the stocks mentioned.