The Must Read PSA Weekly Research Round-Up: Highlighting a report on Sumco (3436), and comments on the Possibility of SoftBank Mobile's IPO and the Apple iPhone Cycle

The PSA Japan Research Round-Up for the week ending Jan 12 

Contents
PSA Company Visits, Tours and Interviews 3
PSA In the Press 3
Reports / Flash Notes Headlines at a Glance 4
1. Sumco (3436 JP): Profits Going from Wafer Thin to Wafer Fat 4
2. iStyle (3660 JP): Looking Pretty Good 5
Company / Sector / Thematic Comments at a Glance 5
1. Japanese Authorities to Use Video Surveillance / Facial Recognition at Tokyo Olympics 5
2. How Strong is the Current Apple iPhone Cycle? 6
3. Murata Looking to Improve OPM in FY18 7
4. Ricoh Gets the Nikkei Earnings PR Treatment 7
5. NAND Prices Sliding 8
6. Sony’s Jumanji Holds on to No. 1 Box Office Spot 8
7. Nintendo Labo – Line-Extension or Creative Cul de Sac? 8
8. How Bad Can It Get for Colopl? 9
9. Asahi Kasei’s Housing Orders – a Third Strong Month 10
10. Jury Still out on Konica Minolta’s Healthcare Acquisitions 11
11. Nissha Can Look Forward to a Better Next Week 11
12. Can Subaru Expand Sales for the 11th Consecutive Year in the US? 11
13. Honda’s Accord wins North American Car of the Year 12
14. Automation and Robotics get a Boost 12
15. Fanuc’s Perfect Timing; and Low Valuations at Mitsubishi Electric 13
16. SoftBank Mulls Listing of Mobile Subsidiary 13
17. LINE to become a major shareholder of iPASS Corporation 14
18. Mercari may IPO in June 15
19. Latest Bitcoin Slide Driven by its Own Issues 15
20. Alternatives in the Japanese Cosmé Space 15
List of PSA Published Reports Since Q2 2017 to Date 16
Important Legal and Regulatory Disclosures & Disclaimers 18

PSA Company Visits, Tours and Interviews
Earnings meeting at Cosmos Pharmaceutical (3349 JP)
Information meeting at Konica Minolta (4902 JP)
Attended the NEPCOM Japan 2018 Electronics and Manufacturing Exhibition
PSA In the Press
Pelham Smithers on the IPO of SoftBank’s Mobile Business: inhttp://money.cnn.com/2018/01/15/investing/softbank-mobile-ipo-tech/index.html
Weekly Market Comment
by Pelham Smithers
Next week sees the Japanese results season get underway with Tokyo Steel (5423 JP) and Yaskawa Electric (6506 JP) reporting on Jan 23 and Nidec (6594) reporting on Jan 24. The three have set a high standard for earnings results in recent quarters, and while there is some debate over whether Tokyo Steel has raised prices enough to offset soaring scrap costs, there are punchy forecasts for both Yaskawa (3Q OP ¥14.7bil +88%) and Nidec (3Q OP ¥46,1bil +24%) which if matched, would make upward revisions quite likely. That in turn would set a very good tone for this quarter’s earnings season.