BUSINESS
Michigan investors enjoy skyrocketing
p rofits. By Aaron Halabe, Special to The Jewish News
F
says MIIC's Hymie Cutler.
"They're making so much
money, it's embarrassing."
Mr. Cutler's exuberance
is not without foundation.
Over the past five years, the
value of MIIC holdings has
quadrupled to $87,000.
Many of their stocks have
increased in value by as
much as 60 to 75 percent.
Mr. Cutler sites Scitex
Corporation as MIIC's
biggest success story. The
club bought Scitex stock in
May of 1988 at 1 25/16 per
share. It currently trades for
$39 per share after a 2 for 1
stock split in 1990.
Analysts and private in-
vestors cite Scitex, a man-
ufacturer of imaging hard-
ware and software, as an ex-
ample of the resurgence of
Israeli securities. Other
high-technology firms such
ive years ago, if you
peeked into a Michi-
gan-Israel Invest-
ment Club meeting,
you might have thought it
was just a small group of
older men trading stock tips
over coffee.
Today, those same men
(and a large group of
women) are the machers
and shakers of an invest-
ment club whose member-
ship and profits have
skyrocketed.
Although MIIC has
reached the government-
mandated maximum of 35
members, the group's suc
cess has generated enough
interest to form three other
local clubs under the aus-
pices of the Zionist Organi-
zation. of America.
"The investment clubs are
going crazy, all of them,"
as Fibronix, Elbit Comput-
ers, ECI Telecom and Intel-
ligent Information Systems
(IIS) have also experienced
substantial growth.
An MIIC executive re-
search committee analyzes
various Israeli offerings and
makes investment recom-
mendations to the member-
ship at large. Mr. Cutler
credits the club's collective
foresight for its successes,
but he admits they've
missed a few opportunities.
"We goofed a bit because
we didn't realize how much
some of the stocks like ECI
Telecom and ITS were going
up. And we didn't take ad-
vantage of it. But that's the
way the ball bounces. We
still have done very well."
Mr Cutler says MIIC
members invest in Israeli
securities for monetary ad-
vancement, but also because
they view it as being in Is-
rael's economic best inter-
est. "This kind- of investment
has great money-making po-
tential while you're also do-
ing some good - who could
ask for a better combination.
It's outside of politics, too; it
doesn't matter if you're pro-
gressive or labor, right wing,
left wing, it doesn't matter.
"And a lot of (Jewish) peo-
ple are totally unaware of
how important this kind of
investing is for Israel. The
more people that invest, the
closer Israel becomes to be-
ing economically self-suffi-
cient."
That same feeling moti
vates Malcolm Leventen,
who organized ZOA's three
investment clubs - called
aleph, bet and gimel. Al-
though Mr. Leventen admits
MICHIGAN ISRAEL INVESTMENT CLUB - STOCK HOLDINGS AT NOVEMBER 18, 1992
Name of Stock
Date of
Purchase
Laser Industries
10/87
Teva Pharmaceutical10/87
Laser Industries
5/88
Scitex Corp. *
5/88
Teva Pharmaceutical5/88
Optrotech
12/88
Taro-Vit
12/88
ECI Telecom **
4/89
Elbit Computer
4/89
Fibronics
6/89
HS Intelligent Infor 6/89
Fibronics
12/89
Fibronics
2/90
Optrotech
2/90
ECI Telecom **
3/90
Elscint
9/91
Elron
9/91
Elscint
5/92
ELSCINT
3/92
Comverse
Technology
3/92
Lannet Data
8/92
Current
at 11/18/92
Total
Price per
Current
Gain, or
Purchase
Share
Value
(Loss)
Number of
Shares
Price per
Share
Principal
Purchase
Commission
& Charges
100
100
100
250
100
200
500
800
200
100
100
100
100
100
400
200
100
200
200
$11 1/2
73/8
7 1/2
1 15/16
53/8
3 7/8
1 -
1 3/8
5 7/16
7 -
5 -
53/4
5 7/8
8 7/8
2 23/32
5 7/8
14 -
5 1/4
5 5/8
$1,150.00
737.50
750.00
484.37
537.50
775.00
500.00
1,100.00
1,087.50
700.00
500.00
575.00
587.50
887.50
1,087.50
1,175.00
1,400.00
1,050.00
1,125.00
$33.38
32.25
3925
31.41
39.25
43.75
65.00
51.75
51.75
42.75
42.75
42.75
42.75
42.75
45.75
35.00
35.00
35.00
35.00
$1,183.38
769.75
78925
515.78
576.75
818.75
565.00
1,151.75
1,13925
742.75
542.75
617.75
630.25
93025
1,13325
1,210.00
1,435.00
1,085.00
1,160.00
$5.125
32.375
5.125
39.000
32.375
14.625
9.250
31.375
41.500
5.875
31.750
5.875
5.875
14.625
31.375
7.125
18.000
7.125
7.125
$512.50
3,237.50
512.50
9,750.00
3,237.50
2,925.00
4,625.00
25,100.00
8,300.00
587.50
3,175.00
587.50
587.50
1,462.50
12,550.00
1,425.00
1,800.00
1,425.00
1,425.00
1,000
100
1 1/8
24 -
1,125.00
2,400.00
50.00
35.00
1,175.00
2,435.00
1.375
26.125
1,375.00
2,612.50
$19,734.37
$872.29
$20,606.66
*quantity & price adjusted for 2:1 stock split in 1990 Totals:
$(670.88)
2,467.75
(276.75)
9,234.22
2,660.75
2,106.25
4,060.00
23,948.25;
7,160.75
(15525)
2,632.25
(30.25)
(42.75)
532.25
11,416.75
215.00
365.00
340.00
265.00
200.00
177.50
$87,212.50 $66,605.84
F EB RU AR Y
dustry also has some winning
companies now traded in the
United States. Among such
companies is Teva Pharma-
ceutical Industries, which in
1991, reached annual sales of
$340 million.
Teva's roots trace back to
the firm of Salomon Levin
and Elstein in 1901. The orig-
inal firm imported and dis-
tributed medicinal drugs. In
the 1930s, Jewish immi-
grants from Europe brought
pharmaceutical and chemi-
cal expertise, and founded
several new companies, in-
cluding Teva, which began
operating in Jerusalem in
1935.
Teva develops, manufac-
tures and markets several
pharmaceuticals, medical dis-
posables, veterinary prod-
ucts, baking yeast and
alcohol. It is the largest sup-
plier to Israel's public and
private health care markets
with 13 manufacturing facil-
ities in Israel, Western Eu-
rope and the United States.
Fifty percent of its sales take
place in 50 countries - much
of the business in the United
States.
Perhaps Teva in 1992
gained attention in the Unit-
ed States for receiving four
generic drug approvals from
the U.S. Food and Drug Ad-
ministration. The most re-
cent is Ibuprofen, prescrip-
tion strengths of which are
sold as Motrin by Upjohn.
Teva's shares can be pur-
chased in the United States
through ADRs.
One of Israel's most prof-
itable industries these days
is its software companies.
Traded today on NASDAQ
are profitable companies like
Fibronics, Oprotech, 4D-4th
Dimension, Edusoft and
Sapiens International and
Magic, which has some high
profile customers such as
Dunkin Donuts, Hasbro and
McDonald's.
"Israel has tremendous
growth potential," says Oscar
Gruss' Mr. Gallagher. "Busi-
ness has exploded in the last
few years, and the technolo-
gy coming out of Israel is in-
credible. Investing in the
Israeli companies will con-
tinue to be very promising." ❑
B a