There are no safe havens in the stock market. Every stock carries risk. But some less than others. This column features stocks that have shown one or more of the following characteristics: less volatility, better earnings, larger market caps, safe and increasing dividends. In these times of turmoil, our goal is to show readers better opportunities for investing with fewer risks.

August 1, 2011 - Kyocera Corporation (KYO-NYSE) develops, produces, and distributes ceramic, semiconductor, and electronic products for the information and communications markets, and environment and energy markets worldwide.

In addition, the company makes solar energy products, cutting tools, medical and dental implants, and jewelry products and applied ceramic related products. Further, it provides miniature ceramic capacitors, tantalum capacitors, RF modules, and miniature timing devices; and connectors primarily for digital consumer equipment; thin-film products comprising thermal printheads, amorphous silicon photoreceptor drums, and LCDs for office automation equipment and industrial equipment; organic flip-chip packages for application specific integrated circuits; and system in a package substrates for mobile phone handsets.

Additionally, the company offers base stations, terminals, and PHS mobile phone handsets; page printers, copying machines, and peripherals; electronic insulation materials and molded products; data center services for mobile phone content distribution services; and management consulting services, as well as being in the telecommunications engineering business ranging from system development to design, construction, and maintenance services; and IT solutions business, that comprises network and system integration solutions.

It distributes through its sales personnel and independent distributors. The company was formerly known as Kyoto Ceramic Kabushiki Kaisha and changed its name to Kyocera Corporation in 1982. Kyocera Corporation was founded in 1959 and is headquartered in Kyoto, Japan.

Earnings jumped in 2010 to $8.04 a share, well above the $2.35 in 2009. This year, look for $8.10, then $8.45 in 2012. (Fiscal year ends in March.) Sales were up 30% in 2010, going to $15.264 billion. Demand for fine ceramic parts was exceptionally strong in 2010 and should continue for this year and next. Look for $16.0 billion in sales this year.

Investors may worry about any company in Japan. How was it specifically affected by the earthquake/tsunami? For Kyocera, the answer is: not at all. Production continued unabated and shouldn't feel any impact from ongoing recovery efforts with one exception: supplies in parts and materials produced by other Japanese firms. So far, there is no evidence of this being a meaningful problem.

Investors like this stock. While the price was hurt in the latter part of 2008 when the rest of the market was tumbling faster than snow in an avalanche, it bottomed at $45.40, and unlike most other stocks, didn't reach new lows in March of 2009 when it looked like the world had ended. The stock more than doubled in the last 2 1/2 years. Still, at $108, it's less than half its all-time high of $222.90 set in 2000. Remember those days, the ones just before the end of the tech era?

Essential numbers: Market Cap is $19.55 billion. Price to sales ratio is 1.2. Operating margin for the last 12 months was 11.92% and Profit margin was 9.32%. Return on equity was 8.67% while Return on assets was 4.95%. Beta was 1.08. In the last 52 weeks, the stock is up 19.73%. There are 183.74 million shares Outstanding with a Float of 172.60 million. Last year, the dividend was $1.41, paid in 2 periods in September and December. There is no declared dividend yet for this year. It has paid a dividend every years since 1995, the last year I have data for. It most likely paid for many years before that as well. In the last 4 years, the dividend has been $1.02, $1.21, $1.25, and $1.41.

Conservative investors can't get too excited about KYO unless they like solid earnings, low debt, and strong demand. And a solid A+ Financial rating. There's no catalyst here that will make earnings jump over 200% as they did in 2010. But there is good reason to believe that earnings will continue to grow at a meaningful rate without a lot of risk.

- Company Web site: www.kyocera.com

- Ted Allrich