James Grant: Japanese Stocks Are Cheaper Than Ever!

The following is an excerpt from James Grant's column in Forbes:

How am I investing my own untold wealth? In a confection of long-short equity hedge funds (no bonds), in gold and in Japanese stocks, chronically cheap but cheaper than ever in 2008. In fact, Japan has produced a previously unknown class of investment bargain, the globally competitive cigar butt.

Hi-Lex (trading at the equivalent of $12, ticker number 7279), a geographically diversified and technologically accomplished maker of automotive cables, is one such specimen. Revenues in the past five years are up 8.7% per annum. Yet it trades at not much more than the sum of its net current assets. Available on the Osaka exchange, Hi-Lex stock is off 37% from its 52-week high. Are there warts? Yes, but….