July 18 (Bloomberg) -- A shoe manufacturer, a former telephone company, and a onetime shrimp farmer are among Asia's 10 best performing stocks this year. Their new focus: mining.

Shares of Nority International Ltd., a Hong Kong shoemaker that last week bought a stake in an iron ore explorer, have soared 6,411 percent in 2007. Mongolia Energy Ltd., a former Hong Kong telephone company that bought Mongolian mine plots in May, is up 4,068 percent. PT ATPK Resources, an Indonesian shrimp farmer that became an energy explorer last year, has leapt 2,763 percent.

They are the second, fifth and tenth-best performers in Asia among the 13,458 stocks with a market size above $10 million as at July 16, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. None has yet profited from their new mining ventures.

``This is classic speculative stuff,'' said Brian Eley, who manages about A$800 million in small company shares, including mining stocks, at Eley Griffiths Group in Sydney. The newcomers to the market -- some of which haven't even started mining yet -- ``are trading on the back'' of larger miners, he said.

Eley invests in Australian stocks except for the 100 biggest companies. His holdings include Aquarius Platinum Ltd., a miner in Africa, Kagara Zinc Ltd., which sells its output to Korea Zinc Co., and Sally Malay Mining Ltd., a nickel producer.

Shares of companies that produce raw materials in Morgan Stanley Capital International's Asia Pacific Index have surged 243 percent and energy stocks 384 percent in the past five years as China's growth fueled demand for commodities. This year, Asian materials stocks are up 31 percent and energy shares 36 percent.

`Cautious'

The Reuters/Jefferies CRB index of 19 commodities has risen 113 percent over the past five years and is up 7.2 percent in 2007. Copper has jumped almost five-fold while crude oil prices have almost tripled since July 2002. Copper is up 23 percent this year, while oil has gained 13 percent.

Mongolia Energy shares are trading at 1,203 times reported earnings. Nority and ATPK lost money in their most recent periods, so can't be valued using price-to-earnings multiples.

``These guys are cashing in on the latest theme,'' said Anthony Muh, who oversees about $1 billion at Alliance Trust Plc in Hong Kong. His fund owns mining stocks he declined to name.

``Investors should be very cautious and wary to ensure that there are legitimate businesses behind the vehicle which has taken over these listed companies and that there is some real support that will lead them down this new path,'' he said.

Even investors who have profited say it pays to be careful.

`Good Profit'

The $100 million Aim China Fund, run by Samantha Ho in Hong Kong, bought 900,000 shares in Mongolia Energy, according to a March filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Ho said in an interview that she visited the company and it couldn't give her detailed information and wasn't ready to take investors to the mine. She's since sold the shares, having ``made a good profit.''

``We have to be extremely selective because this is like a trend; we have to make sure that the mines are good, that the documentation is signed,'' she said of companies transforming their businesses. ``As an investor I am very, very cautious in all of these companies.''

Even after the rally, the bigger commodity-related shares included in MSCI's indexes are trading close to their historical averages. The 118 shares in MSCI's Asian materials index are valued at an average ratio of 17 times estimated earnings, compared with 19 times for the past five years.

Mongolia Energy, until May known as New World CyberBase Ltd., was originally the telecommunications arm of developer New World Development Co. It first listed in April 1991, reached a high of HK$63.56 in October 1997, then tumbled 99.8 percent to its low of 13 Hong Kong cents on Dec. 28, 2005.

Transformations

The Hong Kong-based company's shares have jumped 981 percent since Feb. 8 this year, when it announced plans to buy a coal mine for HK$1.2 billion ($154 million). In May, the company said it sold its stake in New World Mobile Holdings Ltd., a mobile internet service provider. The same month it said it will buy mine areas of 32,000 hectares and related mining assets in Mongolia to look for coal, iron ore and other non-ferrous metals.

Mohan Datwani, general counsel to Mongolia Energy, said in an interview that the company's board and chairman remain from its New World CyberBase days, while the management team has been ``beefed up'' to take it in the new direction. Commenting on the share surge, he said ``the company tries to do its work and leaves the market to decide the shares' value.''

Nority shares have risen from 4.7 cents at the start of the year to HK$3.06 on Monday. On July 12 the company said it will pay $2.66 million for a 60 percent stake in Chilean iron ore mining company Mincel. In the company's April annual report, Chairman He Xuechu flagged the move from athletic and golf shoes.

Shrimp to Coal

``The existing shoe business of the Group is facing severe competition,'' he said. ``Directors of the board are expecting to explore other potential business opportunities that eventually become the new profit centers.''

PT Anugrah Tambak Perkasindo changed its name to ATPK Resources in April this year. At an extraordinary shareholders meeting in June 2006, most of the Jakarta-based shrimp farmer's board and directors were replaced as the company switched to the energy business, according to the company's Web site.

``Since the new shareholders took over, we've been interested in the coal business,'' said ATPK Corporate Secretary Andreas Andy Santoso. ``We are an entirely new company.''

Late last year, ATPK acquired a coal mining company that owns concessions to five mines with reserves of about 30 million to 35 million tons. Santoso said the new mines would begin operations in September at the earliest, and couldn't say when they would turn profitable. A 400 hectare palm oil plantation on the site of its former fish farm won't be profitable until 2009, he said.

``The gains in the shares of companies shifting into mining aren't based on real valuations, it's based on expectations that these plans will materialize,'' said Jenny Ting, who helps manage about $4.7 billion at BPI Asset Management Inc. in Manila. `` If after the switch these companies don't show anything, those shares will go back to where they came from.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Malcolm Scott in Sydney at Mscott23@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: July 17, 2007 10:08 EDT