9107 · Kawasaki Kisen (K Line)

Will it survive?

• Can it pay its interest? 10.5×
  Comfortable
  Operating income ¥84.2B ÷ interest expense ¥8.0B
  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? +¥23.7B
  Net cash
  Cash ¥319.7B − debt ¥296.0B
  What this means

  Cash and short-term investments exceed every dollar of debt by ¥23.7B, 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 1%
  Below average through the cycle
  10-yr median, range -6%–5%; 5% latest = NOPAT ¥66.5B ÷ invested capital ¥1.39T
  Industry peers: median 8%
  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 10 years (it ran 5% 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 18%
  High, recently turned positive
  latest ¥181.3B = operating cash ¥264.8B − maintenance capex ¥83.5B; positive each of the last 3 years, after an earlier loss stretch (10-yr median -1%)
  Industry peers: median 7%
  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 18% of revenue this year, a -1% median across 10 years.

• Are earnings backed by cash? 1.99×
  Cash-backed
  Cash from ops ¥264.8B ÷ net income ¥133.0B
  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? 39%
  Reinvests most of it
  Dividends + buybacks ¥70.2B ÷ Owner Earnings ¥181.3B
  What this means

  Of ¥181.3B Owner Earnings, ¥70.2B (39%) went back to shareholders, ¥70.2B dividends, ¥3M 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? 1.59×
  Expanding
  Capex ¥83.5B ÷ depreciation ¥52.4B
  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 8 of 10
  What this means

  Lost money in 2 year(s), look at what happened there before trusting the average.

• Return on capital ≥ 15% 0 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 −2% → 9% (3-yr avg ends)
  What this means

  Through the cycle the operating margin widened — about −2% early to 9% lately, median 1% — pricing power intact or improving.

• Reinvestment, incremental ROIC 10%
  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 · −4.5% op. margin
  What this means

  Operations went underwater in 2017, understand why before trusting the good years.

• Dividend record rising
  What this means

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