Japan Market Comment by Pelham Smithers, Julie Boote, Joel Scheiman, William Nestuk and Thao Nguyen
Nikkei ¥21,892.78 (+¥156.34/ +0.72%); Topix ¥1,760.53 (+¥14.36 / +0.82%); ¥/$106.85
Tags: TDK (6762 JP), Nexon (3659 JP), Capcom (9697 JP), Bandai Namco (7832 JP), Nintendo (7974 JP), Konami (9766 JP), EA (EA US), Koei Tecmo (3635 JP), Honda (7267 JP), Hitachi Chemical (4217 JP), Ionic Materials (private), Toyota (7203 JP), NGK Spark Plug (5334 JP), Ohara (5218 JP), Aisin Seki (7259 JP), Denso (6902 JP) SHI (6302 JP), Komatsu (6301 JP), HCM (6305 JP), GungHo (3765 JP), mixi (2121 JP)
Main Points at a Glance
• Market shrugs off higher yen
• eSports emerging as a significant investment theme
• Honda to Benefit from Diversification
• Hitachi Chemical preps for solid-state lithium-ion batteries
• Denso-Aisin share price gap closes again
• SHI looking more attractive vs peer group
• Is GungHo’s recent good run justified?
Aisin Seiki is engaged in the manufacture and sale of automobile parts and housing-related equipment. Co.'s principal products are engine parts, including water pumps, pistons and intake manifolds; automatic transmissions, and manual transmissions; brake and chassis parts, such as brake master cylinders, disk brakes and antilock brake systems; door locks and power backdoor systems, car navigation systems, parking support systems and intelligent parking support systems; housing-related equipment, such as shower toilets, beds, automatic wheel chairs and gas heater pump air-conditionings; and fiber laser. Co. is also engaged in the civil construction and petroleum sales businesses.
Bandai Namco Holdings is a holding company engaged in the planning and execution of medium- and long-term business strategies for the Group. Co. operates in three business segments: toy and hobby, network entertainment, and visual and music production. Co.'s principal products include toys, candy toys, products for vending machines, cards, plastic model kits, apparel, sundries, stationery, home-use video game software, commercial-use video game machines, and prizes for amusement arcade machines, video products, video software and on-demand video distribution. Co. is also involved in the operation of amusement facilities, as well as the transportation and the real estate management services.
Capcom is engaged in the development, manufacture and sales of video games, online games, mobile games and arcade games, as well as the operation of amusement arcades. Co.'s business segments are digital contents, amusement facility and amusement equipment. Co. is engaged in the planning, development, manufacture and sales of home video games, online games and mobile games including "Rockman," "Monster Hunter World" and "Dragons Dogma"; the operation of "Plaza Capcom" amusement facilities in Japan; and the development, production and distribution of arcade games for amusement facilities. Co. is also engaged in the licensing business of game characters and the real estate leasing business.
Denso and its affiliates are mainly engaged in the manufacture and sale of automobile electronic, electrical parts, and other components. Co.'s principal business segments are powertrain control systems, electronic systems, thermal systems, information and safety systems, small motors, industrial systems and consumer products. Co.'s principal products include starters, alternators, engine management systems, components for gasoline, diesel and electric hybrid vehicles, engine ECUs, hybrid ICs, air conditioners, radiators, remote keyless entry controllers, car navigation systems, car-mounted ETC devices, motors, bar code handy scanners and industrial robots.
Electronic Arts develops, markets, publishes and distributes games, content and services that can be played and watched on a variety of platforms, including game consoles, personal computers, and mobile phones. The company markets and sells its games and services through digital distribution channels and through retail channels. Digitally, the company's console games and services can be purchased through third-party storefronts. In its games and services, the company utilizes brands that it either wholly own or license from others. The company develops and publishes games and services across genres. Within and alongside its games, the company provides live services, including in-game purchases, downloadable content, and esports.
GungHo Online Entertainment is mainly engaged in the planning, development, and operation of online games. Along with its subsidiaries and associated companies, Co. is engaged in the planning, development, operation and distribution of smart phone applications and online computer games, and the sale of console games. Co. is also engaged in the sale of game contents through download service as well as the licensing of self-developed games. Co.'s principal smart phone applications are "Puzzle & Dragons," "Summons Board," "Divine Gate," and "Princess Punt Sweets," and its principal online computer games are "Ragnarok Online" and "Emil Chronicle Online."
Hitachi Chemical and its affiliates are mainly engaged in the manufacture, process, and sale of functional materials and advanced components and systems. Co.'s principal products include electronics materials, such as semiconductor epoxy molding compounds and die bonding paste and insulating varnishes; inorganic materials, such as lithium-ion batteries materials and carbon products; functional resin and adhesive film for display; photographic sensitive films; automotive products, such as molded plastics, friction materials and powder metal products; automotive batteries, industrial batteries and capacitor; electrical equipment, such as printed wiring boards; and diagnostics equipment.
Hitachi Construction Machinery is a manufacture of construction machinery. Co.'s principal business segments are construction machinery and solution. Along with its subsidiaries and associated companies, Co. is engaged in the manufacture, sale, after-sale services and rental of construction machinery, such as mini excavators, medium excavators, large excavators, loading shovels, wheel loaders, demolition equipment, metal recycling equipment, forest machines, rigid dump trucks, compaction equipment, cranes, foundation machines, double-front work machine and mine management systems.
Honda Motor is the parent company of a group mainly develop, manufacture and distribute motorcycles, automobiles, power products, and also provide financing for the sale of those products. Principal manufacturing facilities are located in Japan, the United States of America, Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Turkey, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Argentina, and Brazil. Co.'s principal business segments are motorcycles, automobiles, financial services, and power products & other business. Co.'s principal automobile products include passenger cars such as "Legend," "Accord," "Inspire," "Civic," "Insight," "City," "Acura RL," "Acura TL," "Acura TSX," and "Acura CSX".
Koei Tecmo Holdings is a holding company. Co., through its subsidiaries, operates in five business segments: entertainment, service provider, amusement facility operation, real estate, and others. Co. is engaged in the development and sale of game software for personal computers and home video game systems and software for online games and mobile phones; books, compact discs, digital versatile discs and goods; as well as liquid crystal display for pinball games and slot games. Co. is also involved in the collection of related royalty, the operation of amusement facilities, the real estate business and the venture capital business.
Komatsu is engaged in the manufacture and sale of construction and mining equipment, utility equipment and industrial machinery. Co. operates in three business segments. Construction Machinery and Vehicles segment provides wheel loaders, hydraulic excavators, mini excavators, bulldozers, dump trucks, forklift trucks, forwarders, feller bunchers, harvesters, among others. Retail Finance segment is engaged in the provision of financing services for construction and mining equipment. Industrial Machinery and Other segment offers laser cutting machines, plasma cutting machines, press brakes, shears, transfer machines, machining centers, crankshaft millers, among others. .
Konami Holdings is engaged in the development, publishing, marketing and distribution of video game software products globally for stationary consoles such as Sony PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii, and Microsoft Xbox 360, and for portable consoles such as Sony PlayStation Portable, PlayStation Vita, Nintendo DS and Nintendo 3DS, as well as for use on personal computers. In addition, Co. plans, produces, operates and distributes entertainment content for mobile phone online games. Co. classifies its businesses into four segments: Digital Entertainment, Health & Fitness, Gaming & System, and Amusement.
Mixi is an information technology company with two business segments. Entertainment Segment is engaged in the development and distribution of Smartphone-native games. Media Platform Segment is engaged in the operation of SNSs under the site name "mixi" and recruitment site called "Find Job!" The site offers various services, such as Blog services, Internet discussion boards as well as the distribution of domestic and overseas news. In this Segment, Co. is also engaged in the Internet research business, the photo book service called "nohana" and the wedding support business.
Nexon is engaged in the production, development and delivering on-line games. Along with its subsidiaries and affiliates, Co. provides PC online-games and mobile games in Japan, Korea, China, North America and Europe as well as Asian countries. Co.'s principal existing game titles include "MapleStory," "Sudden Attack," "Dungeon & Fighter," "Counter-Strike Online," and "EA SPORTS FIFA Online 3." Co. also offers services such as consulting related to PC online-game distribution, in-game advertising, and merchandising incidental to PC online business. As of Dec 31 2017, Co. has 26 consolidated subsidiaries and 14 affiliates.
NGK Spark Plug is engaged in the manufacture and sale of spark plugs to major manufacturers worldwide in the automotive, electronics and other industries. Co.'s principal business segments are automobile-related, technical ceramic-related and others. Co.'s principal products include plugs, glow plugs, various automotive sensors, ceramic engine parts, automotive components, organic build-up package, ceramic package, other semiconductor components, electronic components, cutting tools, and ceramics products for industrial and medical applications. Co. is also engaged in the sale of production tools and the provision of transportation services and welfare services.
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.
Ohara is engaged in the manufacture and sale of glass materials for optical and electronics devices. Co. offers optical glasses used in digital devices including digital cameras, and optical devices including microscopes. Co. also offers low transformation temperature optical glasses for glass mold lenses; high transmission and low photo elastic constant glasses for cameras, and light high refractive index eye-glass material. Co. is also engaged in the manufacture and sale of glass-ceramics materials for a variety of applications, components for use in LCD microlithography, substrates for WDM / optical communication filters, and substrates for precision measurement equipment.
Sumitomo Heavy Industries is engaged in the manufacture and sale of industrial machinery and machinery components. Machinery Components segment offers power transmissions and control equipment. Precision Machinery segment offers semiconductor manufacturing equipment. Construction Machinery segment offers hydraulic excavators and road machinery. Industrial Machinery segment offers medical systems, steel making machinery, steam turbines, material handling systems, logistics systems and parking systems. Ships segment offers oil tankers. Environmental Facilities & Plants segment offers plant systems, recycling facilities, clean room systems and water and sewage treatment systems.
TDK is a manufacturer of recording media, ferrite products and recording device products, and a producer of inductor, ceramic capacitor, magnet, HDD head and other components. Co.'s principal business segments are passive components, sensor application products, magnetic application products, film application products and others. Co.'s principal products include ceramic capacitors, aluminum electrolytic capacitors, film capacitors, inductive devices, high-frequency components, piezoelectric materials and circuit protection components, sensors, HDD head suspension, recording devices, power supplies and magnets, and mechatronics.
Toyota Motor is an automobile manufacturer. Co. is primarily engaged in the design, manufacture, and sale of sedans, minivans, compact cars, sport-utility vehicles, trucks and related parts and accessories throughout the world. Co. provides financing, vehicle and equipment leasing and certain other financial services primarily to its dealers and their customers to support the sales of vehicles and other products manufactured by Co. Co.'s principal business segments are automotive operations, financial services operations and other operations. Co. sells its vehicles in approximately 190 countries and regions, and markets for its automobiles in Japan, North America, Europe and Asia.
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