6752 · Panasonic Holdings

Will it survive?

• Can it pay its interest? 5.6×
  Comfortable
  Operating income ¥236.4B ÷ interest expense ¥42.0B
  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? +¥515.4B
  Net cash
  Cash ¥770.2B − debt ¥254.8B
  What this means

  Cash and short-term investments exceed every dollar of debt by ¥515.4B, on net the company owes nothing, and can act from strength when others can't. 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 8%
  Solid through the cycle
  9-yr median, range 1%–19%; 4% latest = NOPAT ¥186.8B ÷ invested capital ¥4.70T
  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 4% 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 0%
  Thin, recently turned positive
  latest ¥1.3B = operating cash ¥624.3B − maintenance capex ¥623.0B; positive each of the last 3 years, after an earlier loss stretch (9-yr median 0%)
  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 0% of revenue this year, a 0% median across 9 years.

• Are earnings backed by cash? 3.29×
  Cash-backed
  Cash from ops ¥624.3B ÷ net income ¥189.5B
  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? 8404%
  Returned more than it generated
  Dividends + buybacks ¥112.1B ÷ Owner Earnings ¥1.3B
  What this means

  The company returned more than it generated: against ¥1.3B of Owner Earnings, ¥112.1B (8404%) went back to shareholders, ¥112.1B dividends, ¥46M buybacks — the excess came from the balance sheet or borrowing, not the year's operations. Sustained, that pattern draws down cash or adds debt; the net-debt line above shows where it stands.

• Investing or harvesting? 1.54×
  Expanding
  Capex ¥623.0B ÷ depreciation ¥404.3B
  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, 2017–2026

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% 4 of 10 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 4% → 4% (3-yr avg ends)
  What this means

  Through the cycle the operating margin held roughly steady — about 4% early, 4% lately, median 4%.

• Reinvestment, incremental ROIC 2%
  What this means

  Reinvested capital came back at only a modest incremental return — near the cost of capital, where extra growth adds little per dollar. The record shows whether it is a soft stretch or a thinning moat.

• Worst year 2017 · 0.6% op. margin
  What this means

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

• Share count +0.0%/yr
  What this means

  Roughly flat share count, little dilution, little buyback.

• Dividend record rising
  What this means

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