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Stock market climber Imura: YouTube channel closed
Photo: ISSEI KATO / REUTERS
Japan's newest star investor has neither a car nor any special hobbies and rarely goes out to eat.
However, the 38-year-old only found his true purpose after his career as a comedian was over: Toshiya Imura understands stock analysis better than few others.
The fortune that he has earned with it now totals around 42 million dollars.
The former comedian is now followed by an enthusiastic fan base.
After years as an investor and stock market YouTuber, the 38-year-old broke through last year when the Japanese Securities and Exchange Commission designated him as a major shareholder in coal producer Sumiseki Holdings and regional lender First Bank of Toyama.
Small investors followed his strategy and rushed into the companies that have become known as "Imura stocks."
The price of First Bank's paper has almost doubled in the past year, and Sumiseki's has almost tripled.
Shares of Mitsui Matsushima Holdings, another coal producer whose filing lists Imura as a major shareholder in 2021, have also surged over the past year.
The broad-based Tokyo stock index TOPIX fell by six percent in the same period.
Imura has gained a reputation among his followers for having a superior ability to analyze financial reports that sets him apart from other investors.
"He's just incredibly good with his diligence and analytical skills," said 51-year-old Yasumasa Yamada, who increased his stake in Sumiseki after learning of Imura's position.
'He doesn't just read the publications.
He also analyzes the things behind the numbers, such as how excessive labor costs might affect long-term performance.«
Imura began investing in 2011 when he worked part-time to fund his comedy performances, which earned him just $220 that year.
Since then, it has more than doubled its returns every year since 2019.
Yields tripled in 2022.
Savings of $7,700 turned into millions.
Imura says he combs through the company's filing looking for evidence of changes in the business environment or other factors that the market hasn't priced in yet.
"When I'm not sleeping, I spend my time investing," he said in an interview with Reuters journalists.
"I don't think anyone else in Japan spends so much time with stocks." He also closed his YouTube channel in 2020 in order to be able to devote more time to what is happening on the stock exchange.
Although his strategy is fundamentally based on Warren Buffett's well-known value investing -- he cites Benjamin Graham's "The Intelligent Investor" as an influence -- Imura also looks for undervalued companies in industries that most investors aren't aware of.
"A good company performance alone cannot become alpha," he explains his strategy.
He likes coal producers because he believes they have been undervalued by the focus on clean energy.
Regional banks remain attractive due to expectations of higher interest rates in Japan.
Imura is now planning the next step: establishing his own fund.
It should start this year, part of his assets should serve as seed capital.
A former institutional investor whom he admires becomes a partner.
But he doesn't want to reveal the name.
The fund is to be called the "Japan Release Fund" and is intended to offer its compatriots the opportunity to invest in the stock market even with little equity.
"I want my investing activities to have some kind of social meaning," he said.
Like Buffett, Imura is frugal.
He uses public transport in Tokyo and regularly eats eggs, bananas and "natto", ie fermented soybeans - because they offer a lot of food for little money.
mike/Reuters
