Former Japanese comedian gets second act as star investor
13/01/2023 05:41
By Mariko Katsumura and Shinichi Uchida
TOKYO, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Japan's newest star investor
has no car or hobbies and rarely eats out. But Toshiya Imura has
turned an obsession for stock research into $42 million in
returns, giving the former comedian an enthusiastic fan base and
a chance to launch his own fund.
After years as an investor and stock market YouTuber, the
38-year-old had a break-out moment last year when he figured in
regulatory filings as a large shareholder of coal producers
Sumiseki Holdings 1514.T and regional lender First Bank of
Toyama 7184.T .
Small investors took notice and piled into the companies,
which have become known as "Imura stocks". Shares of First Bank
of Toyoma have nearly doubled over the last year, while
Sumiseki's almost trebled. Tokyo's broad TOPIX index .TOPX has
fallen 6%.
Mitsui Matsushima Holdings 1518.T , another coal producer
whose filing showed Imura as a major shareholder in 2021, has
also seen its shares surge in the past year.
Imura's fans say his ability to drill into financial
statements separates him from other investors.
"He's just incredibly good with his due diligence and
analytical skills," said 51-year-old Yasumasa Yamada, who raised
his holding in Sumiseki after learning of Imura's position.
"He doesn't simply read disclosures. He also analyses
things that are hidden behind the numbers, such as how excess
labour costs could weigh on long-term performance."
LIKE BUFFETT
Imura began investing in 2011, when he was working part-time
to support his comedy gigs that paid just $220 that year.
Starting with his savings of 1 million yen ($7,700), he has
more than doubled his returns each year since 2019. Returns
trebled in 2022, for a total of about 5.5 billion yen so far.
Imura said he pores over company filings, looking for
evidence of changes to the business environment or other factors
the market may not yet have priced in.
"I devote all my waking hours to investment," he told
Reuters in an interview. "I believe nobody else in Japan spends
this much time on stocks."
He shut down his YouTube channel in 2020 to focus more on
investing, he said.
Although much of his strategy is rooted in the value
investing made famous by Warren Buffett - he cites Benjamin
Graham's "The Intelligent Investor" as an influence - Imura also
looks for undervalued companies within a promising sector that
are hidden from most investors' radar.
"Good business performance alone can't become alpha," he
said, referring to the returns on an investment that exceed a
benchmark.
Imura said he likes coal producers because he believes they
have been undervalued by the focus on clean energy. Regional
banks will remain attractive due to expectations of higher
interest rates in Japan, he said.
His deep dive into financial reports and sector analyses is
crucial, he said, as he prefers to concentrate on a few choice
stocks rather than spreading his funds thin.
He also nudges companies for change, and in a recent victory
- albeit a minor one - he got Mitsui Matsushima to move the time
of its earnings release to the market's close, to give smaller
investors more time to digest the numbers.
Mitsui Matsushima, Sumiseki and First Bank of Toyama all
declined to comment when asked about Imura.
GOING PRO
He now plans to start his own fund this year, with some
initial funding from his own wealth, and will team up with a
former institutional investor he admires. He declined to name
his future partner.
It will be called the "Japan Release Fund", with the idea
being that it will unleash investment opportunities and
benefits to Japanese households.
"I want my investment activities to have some sort of social
meaning," he said.
The son of a professor, Imura became a comedian after
graduating with a degree in systems engineering.
He later became one-third of the comedy act Shimbun, which
means newspaper. In 2011, the group made it to the semi-finals
of "King of Conte", a popular TV show that showcases
up-and-coming comedians. They disbanded six years later.
Like the famously frugal Buffett, Imura is also thrifty,
taking public transport in Tokyo and regularly eating eggs,
bananas and "natto", or fermented soybeans, for their "cost
performance".
(Reporting by Mariko Katsumura and Shinichi Uchida; Editing by
David Dolan and Clarence Fernandez)
((mariko.katsumura@thomsonreuters.com; +81-3-4520-1228))