Report

Japan Stock Market Strategy as Wall Street "Wobbles"

After two days of a wobbling and contagious Wall Street, Pelham Smithers looks at US stock market valuations. He discusses factors contributing to the fall, the collateral damage to Japan’s stock markets, and compares 2008 with now in order to assess current risk levels. Can sentiment in Japan decouple? 

  • Introduction: Wall Street & Volatility  

Table: Statistical Characteristics of Monthly Return Distributions 

  • Adding in Value (or the Lack of it) to the Equation 

Chart: US Stock Market Valuations (q and CAPE) Normalized (Fair Value = 0)  

  • Japan: Collateral Damage Once More 

Chart: Topix & Topix Core Value 

  • Protection Offered by Japan – Higher Now than in 2008 
  • Importance of Government / BoJ Action 
  • Conclusion 
Underlyings
Canon Inc.

Canon and its subsidiaries are engaged in the manufacture and sale of office multifunction devices, plain paper copying machines, laser printers, inkjet printers, cameras and lithography equipment. Co. sells its products principally under the Canon brand name and through sales subsidiaries. Each of these subsidiaries is responsible for marketing and distribution to retail dealers in an assigned territory. As of Dec. 31, 2017, Co.'s manufacturing is conducted primarily at 30 plants in Japan and 18 plants overseas. Co. operates its business in four segments: Office Business Unit, Imaging System Business Unit, Medical System Business Unit, and Industry and Others Business Unit.

Fanuc Corporation

Fanuc is engaged in the development, manufacture and sale of CNC systems as well as application products based on its engineering. Co.'s principal products include Factory Automation (FA) products such as computer numeric control (CNC) systems and laser products; The Robot including collaborative robot, arc welding robot, palletizing robot, mini/small/medium/large size robot and paint robot; and the he Robo-machine such as robodrill(compact machining center), roboshot (electric injection molding machine), robocut (wire-cut electric discharge machine) and robonano (ultra precision machine).

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group is financial groups with total assets of Y297,185,019 million as of Mar. 31, 2017. Co. is the holding company for The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd., Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking Corporation, Mitsubishi UFJ Securities Holdings Co., Ltd., Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities Co., Ltd., Mitsubishi UFJ NICOS Co., Ltd., and other companies. As a bank holding company, Co. is regulated under the Banking Law of Japan. Its services include commercial banking, trust banking, securities, credit cards, consumer finance, asset management, leasing and many more fields of financial services.

Nintendo Co. Ltd.

Nintendo is mainly engaged in the development, manufacture, and sale of home-use game hardware/software and peripheral equipment as well as software under the name of "Nintendo DS," "Nintendo 3DS," "Game Boy," "Nintendo 64,"" Game Boy Advance," "Wii," "Nintendo GameCube," "Game Boy Color" and "e-Reader (trading card games)." Co.'s principal software trademarks include "Pokemon," "Super Mario Bros.," "The Legend of Zelda," "STARFOX64" and others. Co. also provides online games and repair services. In addition, Co. is involved in the manufacture and sale of Japanese playing cards called "Karuta," playing cards and board games, as well as the management of intellectual property rights.

Shin-Etsu Chemical Co Ltd

Shin-Etsu Chemical is mainly engaged in the manufacturing and sales of polyvinyl chloride and organic chemicals, silicon, functional chemicals, semiconductor silicon, electronic and functional materials, and others. Co.'s principal products include polyvinyl chloride, caustic soda products, methanol, chloromethane, silicon products, cellulose derivatives, silicon metal, poval (polyvinyl alcohol), synthetic pheromones, semiconductor silicon products, rare earth magnets, encapsulation materials, photoresists, photomask blanks, synthetic quartz products, epoxy molding compounds, pellicles, and resin processed products. Co. is also engaged in the export of plant equipment and others.

Sony Corporation

Sony is engaged in the development, design, production, manufacture, offer and sale of various kinds of electronic equipment, instruments and devices for consumer, professional and industrial markets such as network services, game hardware and software, televisions, audio and video recorders and players, still and video cameras, mobile phones, and semiconductors. Co. is engaged in the development, production, manufacture, and distribution of recorded music and the management and licensing of the words and music of songs as well as the production and distribution of animation titles. Co. is also engaged in the production, acquisition and distribution of motion pictures and television.

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc.

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group is a holding company of the group mainly engaged in the provision of finance services. Co. offers services include deposits, loans, securities transaction, securities investment, domestic and foreign exchange, futures trading, bond fiduciary and registration, trust, security investment trust and insurance over-the-counter sales; leasing business; securities business; consumer finance, automobile sale finance business, venture capital business, business consulting, membership business, loan business, factoring, system development, information processing, money collection, swap related and investment adviser, among others.

Tokyo Electron Ltd.

Tokyo Electron is a supplier of semiconductor production equipment ("SPE") and flat panel display ("FPD") selling through global network that spans Japan, the U.S., Europe and Asia. Co.'s principal products are coater/developers, plasma etch systems, thermal processing systems, single wafer deposition systems, cleaning systems (auto wet station, single wafer cleaning system, pre-clean system and scrubber system), wafer prober, FPD coater/developers and FPD plasma etch/ash systems. In addition, Co., through its subsidiaries, is engaged in the provision of transportation services, insurance services, as well as the support services for Co.'s photovoltaic cell ("PV") production equipment.

Provider
Pelham Smithers Associates Ltd
Pelham Smithers Associates Ltd

Founded in 2009, Pelham Smithers Associates (PSA) provides market intelligence on Asian technology, focusing in particular on Japan. The industries covered by our team of specialists are: consumer electronics, telecomms, pharmaceuticals, internet, electronic parts and materials, automotive technology, retail and capital goods. 

PSA produces both company and sector reports. The focus of PSA’s research is to identify winners and losers as new technologies impact the top and bottom lines of corporations. Critical to our research is the clear explanation of how these new technologies work and how they impact companies and industries. 

The founding partners have worked closely together for twenty years and the team has more than doubled in size since 2012. 

Analysts
Pelham Smithers

Other Reports on these Companies
Other Reports from Pelham Smithers Associates Ltd

ResearchPool Subscriptions

Get the most out of your insights

Get in touch