The PSA Weekly Research Round up for the week to 31 May 2024

Weekly Comment Summary
After a lukewarm response to Sony’s CEO / COO led Strategy Meeting the previous week, it was the turn of the division heads, this week…
…and they did what they do well, which is to entertain, and that was just what was needed.

PSA Company Visits, Tours and Interviews
• Visited: Hotland (3196 JT), Moriya (6226 JT)
• Small Meeting with: Sanrio (8136 JT)
• Presentations at: Asahi Kasei (3407 JT), Kaneka (4118 JT), Toray (3402 JT), Mitsui Chemicals (4183 JT), Adeka Corp (4401 JT), Central Glass (4044 JT), Sakai Chemical (4078 JT), Ube Mitsubishi Cement (unlisted)

PSA in the Press
In this FT article, Pelham Smithers weighs in on the debate about whether now is the right time to buy Japan, noting that “Japan is the perfect market to invest in for anyone who thinks that they’ve missed the boat on US tech stocks,” For investors who wished they’d got into Nvidia, he counts more than 50 Japanese stocks related to AI, from SoftBank Group, owner of chip designer Arm, to Hitachi, provider of arguably the largest industrial AI platform in the world. You can get them at about half the valuations you pay for the Nasdaq Composite. “Is now the time to buy Japan?” (ft.com)

PSA Weekly Contents at a Glance
Reports / Flash Notes Summaries
1. The "AI Opportunity" in the Japanese Stock Market
2. Sanrio (8136 JT) Update – New Licensees Contributing to Earnings

Company / Sector / Thematic Comments
Technology: Consumer Electronics, Gaming
1. Is Japan’s Video Game Industry in Crisis?
2. Video Games Industry Round-up
3. Another Poor Showing at the US Box Office
4. Capcom Resident Evil Update
5. Review of Sony’s Business Segment Meetings
6. Sony In Talks to Buy Rock Band Queen’s Assets
7. Other Consumer Elec / Gaming News & Moves That Caught Our Eye
Technology: Industrial Electronics / Components / Semis & SPE / Precision
8. Memory Prices Soften
9. What NEC Corp Now Has to Do to Hit Its FY25 Targets
10. NEC Launches Blue Stella AI Platform
11. Nidec Accounting Error: Do We Need To Worry?
12. Other Tech-Related News & Moves That Caught Our Eye
Chemicals / Materials
13. Asahi Kasei to Acquire Calliditas Therapeutics
14. Other Chemical / Material-Related News & Moves That Caught Our Eye
Autos
15. Toyota Develops New Engines for Carbon Neutral Fuel
16. Markets Concerned about Toyota’s April Performance
Capital Goods: Auto Parts / Machinery
17. Cable Makers’ Moves This Week
18. Other Auto Part / Machinery News & Moves That Caught Our Eye
Enterprise Software / IT Services
19. Increase in Cybozu’s April Sales Insufficient to Change Story
Pharma / Healthcare
20. Olympus: Agreement to Transfer its Orthopaedics Business in Motion
21. Otsuka, Lundbeck in Positive Rexulti Adult PTSD Data
22. Other Pharma News & Moves That Caught Our Eye
Small- / Mid-Cap Insights
23. Hotland, Sanrio MLB Game Opening Shown on Japanese TV
24. Kyoritsu Maintenance’s April KPIs
Miscellaneous / Market / Strategy / Macro
25. Economic Data:
26. Other News & Moves That Caught Our Eye
List of Recently Published PSA Reports