The T. Rowe Price Japan Fund (Trades, Portfolio) gained four new holdings in the first quarter. The fund bought Yamato Holdings Co. Ltd. (TSE:9064, Financial), Mitsubishi Motors Corp. (TSE:7211, Financial), SMC Corp. (TSE:6273, Financial) and Toshiba Corp. (TSE:6502, Financial).
Founded in 1991, the Japan Fund invests in Japanese companies to achieve long-term growth of capital. The fund is currently managed by Archibald Ciganer. The portfolio consists of 77 stocks valued at $502 million.
The fund purchased 316,400 shares of Yamato Holdings for an average price of 2,392.38 yen ($21.72) per share, giving it 1.32% portfolio space.
Yamato operates a parcel delivery service. The company has a market cap of 900.25 billion yen; its shares were trading around 2,259 yen on Monday with a price-earnings (P/E) ratio of 24.3, a price-book (P/B) ratio of 1.6 and a price-sales (P/S) ratio of 0.6.
The Peter Lynch chart below shows the stock is trading above its fair value.
GuruFocus ranked Yamato’s financial strength 7 of 10 and its profitability and growth 7 of 10. The trailing dividend yield is 1.2% and the forward dividend yield is 1.24%. Over the past five years, the company has grown its dividend at a rate of 3.7% per year.
The Japan fund is the company’s only shareholder among the gurus with 0.08% of its outstanding shares.
The fund bought 816,300 shares of Mitsubishi Motors for an average price of 687.15 yen per share, expanding the portfolio 0.97%.
Mitsubishi manufactures and sells cars. The company has a market cap of 1 trillion yen; its shares were trading around 673 yen Monday with a P/B ratio of 1.5 and a P/S ratio of 0.4.
According to the Peter Lynch chart below, the stock is trading below its fair value.
GuruFocus ranked Mitsubishi’s financial strength 7 of 10 and its profitability and growth 3 of 10. The trailing dividend yield and forward dividend yield are both 1.5%.
The fund is currently the company’s only guru shareholder, holding 0.05% of its outstanding shares.
T. Rowe Price purchased 10,100 shares of SMC for an average price of 31,093.15 yen per share. The trade had an impact of 0.6% on the portfolio.
SMC manufactures and sells pneumatic controls for industrial automation. The company has a market cap of 2.1 trillion yen; its shares were trading around 30,950 yen Monday with a P/E ratio of 20.4, a P/B ratio of 2.1 and a P/S ratio of 4.5.
The Peter Lynch chart below shows the stock is trading above its fair value.
GuruFocus ranked SMC’s financial strength 8 of 10 and its profitability and growth 7 of 10. The trailing dividend yield and forward dividend yield are both 0.65%. Over the past five years, the company has grown its dividend at a rate of 50% per year.
The Matthews Japan Fund (Trades, Portfolio) is SMC’s largest shareholder with 0.35% of its outstanding shares, which represents 1.95% of the fund’s total assets managed.
After previously selling out of Toshiba in fourth-quarter 2013, the fund established a new holding of 1.18 million shares for an average price of 235.13 yen per share. The transaction had an impact of 0.51% on the portfolio.
Toshiba is a conglomerate whose products and services include information technology and communications equipment, electronic components and materials, power systems, consumer electronics, household appliances, medical equipment, office equipment and more. The company has a market cap of 877.7 billion yen; its shares were trading around 207.3 yen Monday with a forward P/E ratio of 0.9 and a P/S ratio of 0.16.
GuruFocus ranked the company’s financial strength 4 of 10 and its profitability and growth 5 of 10. The company does not currently pay a dividend.
The Japan fund is the company’s only shareholder among the gurus with 0.03% of outstanding shares.
During the quarter, the fund sold out of Toyota Tsusho Corp. (TSE:8015, Financial) and Asahi Kasei Corp. (TSE:3407).
The fund sold 177,700 shares of Toyota Tsusho for an average price of 3,251.69 yen per share. The sale had an impact of -1.1% on the portfolio.
It sold 355,000 shares of Asahi Kasei for an average price of 1,069.97 yen per share. The trade had an impact of -0.74% on the portfolio.
Disclosure: I do not own any stocks mentioned in the article.
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