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