6302 · Sumitomo Heavy Industries

Will it survive?

• Can it pay its interest? 23.4×
  Comfortable
  Operating income ¥51.5B ÷ interest expense ¥2.2B
  What this means

  Operating profit covers interest with the kind of margin Graham wanted for a defensive holding. Necessary, not sufficient, it says solvent, not cheap.

• How heavy is the debt, net of cash? ¥145.2B · 2.8× operating profit
  Meaningful net debt
  Cash ¥107.6B − debt ¥252.8B
  What this means

  Netting ¥107.6B of cash and short-term investments against ¥252.8B of debt leaves ¥145.2B owed, about 2.8× a year's operating profit (4.9× on the gross debt, before the cash). Net debt is the leverage figure that matters: the cash is already set against the debt. Strategic or illiquid investments aren't counted here.

• How long is cash tied up? —
  Not enough data
  What this means

  The filing data didn't include the inputs for this check.

Is it a good business?

• Return on invested capital 9%
  Solid through the cycle
  9-yr median, range 5%–15%; 6% latest = NOPAT ¥40.7B ÷ invested capital ¥633.6B
  Industry peers: median 16%
  What this means

  The rate the business earns on the money tied up in it, Buffett's north star, because over time a stock tracks the ROIC beneath it. Above ~15% sustained hints at a moat; a return below the cost of capital (~8%) erodes value as a business grows rather than building it — the test Buffett weighs most. The headline is the median of the last 9 years (it ran 6% most recently), so one peak or trough year doesn't set the verdict. Asset-light businesses (R&D expensed, little capital) read artificially high, pair this with Owner Earnings.

• Owner-earnings margin 2%
  Thin through the cycle
  9-yr median margin, range -2%–6%; latest ¥25.1B = operating cash ¥63.7B − maintenance capex ¥38.6B
  Industry peers: median 2%
  What this means

  What an owner could take out without starving the business: operating cash less the maintenance capital it must spend to hold its position — Buffett's owner earnings. That's 2% of revenue this year, a 2% median across 9 years. It chose to put ¥13.7B more into growth, so free cash flow this year was ¥11.3B — the gap is investment, not weakness.

• Are earnings backed by cash? 2.06×
  Cash-backed
  Cash from ops ¥63.7B ÷ net income ¥30.9B
  What this means

  How much of reported profit showed up as operating cash. Above 1× is reassuring; well below suggests earnings lean on accruals. One year is noisy, growth and working-capital swings distort it, and this is operating cash, not free cash. Watch the multi-year trend.

How is the cash used?

• Where do the earnings go? 60%
  Returns about half
  Dividends + buybacks ¥15.0B ÷ Owner Earnings ¥25.1B
  What this means

  Of ¥25.1B Owner Earnings, ¥15.0B (60%) went back to shareholders, ¥15.0B dividends, ¥14M buybacks. Returning most of it is the mark of a mature business with little left to reinvest at a high return; reinvesting most could mean a long runway, or empire-building. The split doesn't say which; the return earned on it (see ROIC) does.

• Investing or harvesting? 1.36×
  Expanding
  Capex ¥52.3B ÷ depreciation ¥38.6B
  What this means

  Descriptive, not a grade. Above ~1× means investing faster than assets wear out (growth, or, sustained for years, today's earnings carrying less depreciation than tomorrow's will). Below means spending less than it's wearing out (efficiency, or a melting asset base). The ratio won't tell you which; the filings will.

Durability & moat, 2016–2025

Whether the record’s returns held, and what the capital reinvested earned.

• Profitable years 10 of 10
  What this means

  Never lost money over the record, the earnings stability Graham insisted on.

• Return on capital ≥ 15% 0 of 9 yrs
  What this means

  A moat shows up as a high return on invested capital that holds year after year, not one good vintage.

• Operating margin 8% → 6% (3-yr avg ends)
  What this means

  Through the cycle the operating margin slipped — about 8% early to 6% lately, median 7% — competition or costs are biting in.

• Reinvestment, incremental ROIC −1%
  What this means

  Reinvested capital came back at a negative incremental return over this window — the invested base grew while operating profit did not. The filings show where it went.

• Owner earnings growth −46%/yr
  What this means

  Owner earnings shrank about 46% a year over the record.

• Worst year 2025 · 4.8% op. margin
  What this means

  Stayed profitable even in its hardest year, the resilience that survives recessions.

• Dividend record rising
  What this means

  Paid and raised the dividend across the record, the continuity Graham prized.