9735 · Secom

Will it survive?

• Can it pay its interest? 108.5×
  Comfortable
  Operating income ¥160.3B ÷ interest expense ¥1.5B
  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? +¥384.5B
  Net cash
  Cash ¥406.7B + ST investments ¥46.3B − debt ¥68.5B
  What this means

  Cash and short-term investments exceed every dollar of debt by ¥384.5B, 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? 41d
  Tight
  DSO 53 + DIO 9 − DPO 21 days
  What this means

  Days cash is tied up between paying suppliers and collecting from customers. Lower is better; a long cycle means growth itself eats cash.

Is it a good business?

• Return on invested capital 13%
  Solid through the cycle
  10-yr median, range 11%–17%; 15% latest = NOPAT ¥126.7B ÷ invested capital ¥863.4B
  Industry peers: median 6%
  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 15% 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 10%
  Solid through the cycle
  10-yr median margin, range 7%–13%; latest ¥133.1B = operating cash ¥203.6B − maintenance capex ¥70.5B
  Industry peers: median 13%
  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 11% of revenue this year, a 10% median across 10 years.

• Are earnings backed by cash? 1.81×
  Cash-backed
  Cash from ops ¥203.6B ÷ net income ¥112.7B
  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? 76%
  Returns about half
  Dividends + buybacks ¥101.2B ÷ Owner Earnings ¥133.1B — this fiscal year
  What this means

  Of ¥133.1B Owner Earnings, ¥101.2B (76%) went back to shareholders, ¥41.2B dividends, ¥60.0B 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. This year's proportion is 76%; across the record (2017–2026) it is 51%, the capital-allocation section below.

• Investing or harvesting? 0.95×
  Maintaining
  Capex ¥70.5B ÷ depreciation ¥73.9B
  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% 2 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 14% → 12% (3-yr avg ends)
  What this means

  Through the cycle the operating margin held roughly steady — about 14% early, 12% lately, median 13%.

• Reinvestment, incremental ROIC returns capital
  What this means

  The capital base barely grew: this business returns cash through dividends and buybacks rather than reinvesting. Judge it on the cash returned, not on compounding.

• Owner earnings growth +1%/yr
  What this means

  Owner earnings grew about 1% a year over the record.

• Worst year 2025 · 12.0% 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.