Japanese trading company Itochu (ITOCY) has a tough act to follow - its own meaningful improvement over the past five years. The company was more willing than most of its Japanese trading peers to deemphasize commodity/resource businesses, and it moved fairly quickly here, building up non-resource businesses like its food, “machinery”, and finance operations. Those moves have led to better ROE and cash flow margin performance versus its peers, and Itochu shares have done well relative to peers like Mitsui (MITSY), Mitsubishi (MSBHY), Marubeni (MARUY), and Sumitomo (SSUMY) over that time.
Itochu’s execution has not