Technical Analyst, Vermilion Research

Joe Jasper

Technical Analyst

Technical and Quantitative Research

Vermilion Research

Vermilion’s objective is to deliver timely, actionable, and unique technical research to professional investors through the application of our various technical indicators.

Our research strategists seek to highlight securities which we believe are at major inflection points, based on our various technical and quantitative indicators, and offer asymmetric risk/return profiles. Our unique research methodology, centered on relative strength, enables our strategists to deliver superior investment recommendations.

Our process begins by organizing the universe of actively traded stocks into discrete sectors, then into industry groups. We then apply our technical and quantitative tools to identify developing price trends. Once attractive trends are identified within a selected sector or group, we screen for individual stocks which we believe offer the best risk/reward profile. We provide a historical perspective that often reveals, through our long-term charts, how price patterns often repeat themselves over time.

Technical Analysis

<p>Upside momentum continues to wane for global equities. Price action this week has indeed confirmed lower highs for now in the MSCI ACWI, ACWI ex-US, EAFE, and EM indexes. These lower highs increase the probability for breakdowns and a deeper pullback, but we do not want to get ahead of ourselves. Until we see breakdowns we still view global equities as being in a period of consolidation. We outline important technical levels across markets and highlight actionable set ups within Technology, Health care and Staples.</p>

Upside momentum continues to wane for global equities. Price action this week has indeed confirmed lower highs for now in the MSCI ACWI, ACWI ex-US, EAFE, and EM indexes. These lower highs increase the probability for breakdowns and a deeper pullback, but we do not want to get ahead of ourselves. Until we see breakdowns we still view global equities as being in a period of consolidation. We outline important technical levels across markets and highlight actionable set ups within Technology, Health care and Staples.

Global Equity Strategy: Stay Defensive With Technology, Health Care, Staples

Pan-Asia Catalysts/Events, Quiddity Advisors

David Blennerhassett

Pan-Asia Catalysts/Events

Quiddity Advisors

Event-Driven

Henderson Land Development / Event-Driven

<p>My second dose of StubWorld for the week is essentially an exercise in illustrating (as is evident) the <em>truly</em> <em>extraordinary</em> moves over the past week or so, leading to rarely-to-never-seen bifurcations in generally highly correlated pairs. </p>
<p>There are very few Holdco relationships that are behaving.</p>
<p>Incredibly, a pair such as <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/jardine-matheson-holdings-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:19718:1" rel="noopener">Jardine Matheson Holdings (JM SP)</a> / <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/jardine-strategic-hldgs-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:15081:1" rel="noopener">Jardine Strategic Hldgs (JS SP)</a>, recently discussed in <em><a href="https://skr.ma/Wi2oo" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jardines: Holy Bargain Basements!</a></em> (and showing signs of reversing today), fails to make the top 10 of "Set-up" trades in my monitor. </p>
<p>Below I touch on some of the more commonly traded Holdcos and where and how the current position compares to their long-term trading pattern. </p>

My second dose of StubWorld for the week is essentially an exercise in illustrating (as is evident) the truly extraordinary moves over the past week or so, leading to rarely-to-never-seen bifurcations in generally highly correlated pairs. 
There are very few Holdco relationships that are behaving.
Incredibly, a pair such as Jardine Matheson Holdings (JM SP) / Jardine Strategic Hldgs (JS SP), recently discussed in Jardines: Holy Bargain Basements! (and showing signs of reversing today), fails to make the top 10 of "Set-up" trades in my monitor. 
Below I touch on some of the more commonly traded Holdcos and where and how the current position compares to their long-term trading pattern. 

<p>The <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/pasona-group-inc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:15778:1" rel="noopener">Pasona Group (2168 JP)</a> story is not new - but worth repeating.</p>
<p>Pasona owns ~51% of <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/benefit-one-inc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:14502:1" rel="noopener">Benefit One Inc (2412 JP)</a> valued at ¥190bn, exceeding the market capitalisation of Pasona by 197%.  The NAV discount and the implied negative stub have never been larger.</p>
<p>Benefit One's profit continues to grow, in stark contrast to flat to retracing earnings at the remaining unlisted operations.  Management has guided an approach to improving underlying profits. Those efforts continue to fall short of expectations.</p>
<p>The simplest and easiest fix is to divest unrelated, non-core, loss-making unlisted operations. For the remaining unlisted segments, forward guidance as to profit forecasts, sustainability, KPIs and/or even budgets thereon would all be welcomed by investors as measures towards clarifying management's long-term vision. They would facilitate narrowing of the discount.  </p>
<p>Until a concerted effort is made along these lines, Pasona is cheap. And will remain cheap. But at this extreme discount to NAV levels, I'd get involved.</p>

The Pasona Group (2168 JP) story is not new - but worth repeating.
Pasona owns ~51% of Benefit One Inc (2412 JP) valued at ¥190bn, exceeding the market capitalisation of Pasona by 197%.  The NAV discount and the implied negative stub have never been larger.
Benefit One's profit continues to grow, in stark contrast to flat to retracing earnings at the remaining unlisted operations.  Management has guided an approach to improving underlying profits. Those efforts continue to fall short of expectations.
The simplest and easiest fix is to divest unrelated, non-core, loss-making unlisted operations. For the remaining unlisted segments, forward guidance as to profit forecasts, sustainability, KPIs and/or even budgets thereon would all be welcomed by investors as measures towards clarifying management's long-term vision. They would facilitate narrowing of the discount.  
Until a concerted effort is made along these lines, Pasona is cheap. And will remain cheap. But at this extreme discount to NAV levels, I'd get involved.

'Quantamental' Japan Specialist, LightStream Research

Campbell Gunn

'Quantamental' Japan Specialist

ja research

ja research is an independent research platform focused exclusively on Japanese equities. Leveraging data and graphic analysis provided by Japan Analytics, we provide insights on small and medium-sized companies that have been ignored by the sell-side as well as challenging conventional wisdom on larger companies. We also offer analyst and corporate access, the latter with translation if required. 

Equity Bottom-Up

<figure class="editor-figure mceNonEditable"><img src="https://static-prod.smartkarma.com/images/media/000/102/990/original/2019-10-23_10-27-15.png?1571794053" class="editor-image img-responsive" data-smartkarma-image-id="102990"></figure><div class="content-caption">Source: Japan Analytics  [▲ - Buy Recommendations ▼ Profit-taking Recommendation]</div><p style="text-align: left;"><strong>BACK TO PASONA</strong> - Since our Insight <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/2168-pasona-third-quarter-results-time-to-take-some-profits" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="insights:29139" rel="noopener">Time to Take Some Profits</a> of 12th April, Pasona shares have declined by 10%, underperforming the market by 12% over that period. The company has also released 2019 full-year and 2020 first-quarter results - the latter being poorly-received and providing further evidence that Pasona remains committed to its 'social' agenda. Pasona's stake in <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/benefit-one-inc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:14502:1" rel="noopener">Benefit One (2412 JP)</a> has also been further reduced to just over 50%. <strong>For those interested in playing the relative value of Pasona and its stake in Benefit One, the current weakness provides an opportunity to add to positions. </strong></p>

Source: Japan Analytics  [▲ - Buy Recommendations ▼ Profit-taking Recommendation]BACK TO PASONA - Since our Insight Time to Take Some Profits of 12th April, Pasona shares have declined by 10%, underperforming the market by 12% over that period. The company has also released 2019 full-year and 2020 first-quarter results - the latter being poorly-received and providing further evidence that Pasona remains committed to its 'social' agenda. Pasona's stake in Benefit One (2412 JP) has also been further reduced to just over 50%. For those interested in playing the relative value of Pasona and its stake in Benefit One, the current weakness provides an opportunity to add to positions. 

Quantitative Analysis

<p style="text-align: center;"><strong>• RELATIVE PRICE SCORE</strong> •</p><figure class="editor-figure mceNonEditable"><img src="https://static-prod.smartkarma.com/images/media/000/098/178/original/2019-09-06_09-42-35.png?1567730614" class="editor-image img-responsive" data-smartkarma-image-id="98178"></figure><div class="content-caption">Source: Japan Analytics</div><p><strong>INTRODUCTION </strong>- The Relative Price Score (RPS) is a measure of stock price performance relative to TOPIX calculated by comparing the current deviation with the mean absolute deviation of monthly and daily relative share prices. As all companies are thus on a comparable scale, 'Overbought' and 'Oversold' outliers and changes in scoring can reveal short-term and longer-term trading opportunities. Company outlier thresholds are set at<strong> +4</strong> &amp; <strong>-2</strong> and equate to the top and bottom first-to-second percentiles of historical observations from which mean reversion takes a matter of months. RPS outliers with a Score of greater than 10.0 are rare outside of the 2000 tech 'bubble'. <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/lasertec-corp" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:4126:1" rel="noopener">Lasertec (6920 JP)</a> has just joined <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/goldwin-inc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:410:1" rel="noopener">Goldwin (8111 JP)</a> in being only the second large-cap RPS 'ten-baggers' in the last twenty years. </p><div class="content-highlight"><p><strong>This insight updates our list of Overbought and Oversold companies, reviews the best and worst-performing companies in terms of RPS over the last three months and adds some specific comments on stocks on each category.</strong></p></div><div></div><figure class="editor-figure mceNonEditable"><img src="https://static-prod.smartkarma.com/images/media/000/098/046/original/2019-09-05_12-46-46.png?1567655232" class="editor-image img-responsive" data-smartkarma-image-id="98046"></figure><div class="content-caption">Source: Japan Analytics</div><p><strong>STATISTICS</strong> - Currently, of the 3,706 listed companies for which monthly RPS data is available, 81 companies are 'Overbought', and 133 are 'Oversold' - 2.45% and 3.8%, respectively of the total. For the 737 companies with a market capitalisation of over ¥100b, there are 44 'Overbought' and 37 'Oversold' companies, 6% and 5%, respectively.</p><hr><p style="text-align: center;"><strong>• RELATIVE PRICE SCORE 'TOPS' •</strong></p><figure class="editor-figure mceNonEditable"><img src="https://static-prod.smartkarma.com/images/media/000/098/055/original/2019-09-05_13-06-30.png?1567656423" class="editor-image img-responsive" data-smartkarma-image-id="98055"></figure><div class="content-caption">Source: Japan Analytics</div><p><strong>RPS 'TOPS'</strong> - In the last two years, 388 companies have achieved an RPS of '4' or more and the average Overbought 'persistence' is 42 days. 1.26% of the total of 1.94 million traded stock days were by companies with an RPS of over 4. For companies with a market capitalisation higher than ¥100b, the numbers are 95 companies and 74 days - demonstrating the superior persistence of large capitalisation companies in this regard. The chart above highlights the track record of all 95 large caps which are some point were Overbought in the last twenty-four months and illustrates the extreme outlier status of Goldwin and Lasertec.</p><p><strong>RPS NEGATIVE MEAN REVERSION</strong> - Some examples of RPS mean reversion in the last three months have been <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/suzuken-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:14996:1" rel="noopener">Suzuken (9987 JP)</a>, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/infomart-corp" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:1301:1" rel="noopener">Infomart (2492 JP)</a>, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/nichirei-corp" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:7168:1" rel="noopener">Nichirei (2871 JP)</a>, and <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/fancl-corp" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:15862:1" rel="noopener">Fancl (4921 JP)</a>. </p><figure class="editor-figure mceNonEditable"><img src="https://static-prod.smartkarma.com/images/media/000/098/096/original/2019-09-05_16-25-39.png?1567668352" class="editor-image img-responsive" data-smartkarma-image-id="98096"></figure><figure class="editor-figure mceNonEditable"><img src="https://static-prod.smartkarma.com/images/media/000/098/097/original/2019-09-05_16-27-09.png?1567668441" class="editor-image img-responsive" data-smartkarma-image-id="98097"></figure><figure class="editor-figure mceNonEditable"><img src="https://static-prod.smartkarma.com/images/media/000/098/098/original/2019-09-05_16-28-42.png?1567668548" class="editor-image img-responsive" data-smartkarma-image-id="98098"></figure><figure class="editor-figure mceNonEditable"><img src="https://static-prod.smartkarma.com/images/media/000/098/099/original/2019-09-05_16-30-29.png?1567668640" class="editor-image img-responsive" data-smartkarma-image-id="98099"></figure><div class="content-caption">Source: Japan Analytics</div><hr><p style="text-align: center;"><strong>• RELATIVE PRICE SCORE 'BOTTOMS' •</strong></p><div>
<figure class="editor-figure mceNonEditable"><img src="https://static-prod.smartkarma.com/images/media/000/098/056/original/2019-09-05_13-12-52.png?1567656806" class="editor-image img-responsive" data-smartkarma-image-id="98056"></figure><div class="content-caption">Source: Japan Analytics</div>
</div><p><strong>RPS 'BOTTOMS'</strong> - 259 companies have seen their RPS fall to '-2' or below in the last two years, and the average Oversold 'persistence' is 83 days. 1.46% of the total of 1.94 million traded stock days were by companies with an RPS of less than -2.  For larger capitalisation companies, the numbers are 79 companies and 94 days. The chart above highlights the track record of the 79 large caps which are some point were Oversold in the last twenty-four months and illustrates the strong recovery in the<strong> REITs</strong> Sector and the continuing demise of <strong>Regional Banks</strong>.</p><p><strong>RPS POSITIVE MEAN REVERSION</strong> - Some recent examples of positive RPS mean reversions are <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/otsuka-holdings-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:12292:1" rel="noopener">Otsuka Holdings (4578 JP) </a>and <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/line-corp" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:22772:1" rel="noopener">LINE (3938 JP)</a>.</p><figure class="editor-figure mceNonEditable"><img src="https://static-prod.smartkarma.com/images/media/000/098/100/original/2019-09-05_16-35-47.png?1567668972" class="editor-image img-responsive" data-smartkarma-image-id="98100"></figure><figure class="editor-figure mceNonEditable"><img src="https://static-prod.smartkarma.com/images/media/000/098/102/original/2019-09-05_16-36-50.png?1567669047" class="editor-image img-responsive" data-smartkarma-image-id="98102"></figure><div class="content-caption">Source: Japan Analytics</div><p>As we noted in our June <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/japan-relative-price-scores-overbought-oversold-companies-june-2019" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="insights:30393" rel="noopener">Insight: -</a></p><blockquote><p><strong><a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/line-corp" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:22772:1" rel="noopener">LINE (3938 JP)</a></strong>- Line has performed poorly since being featured in last year's Sohn Conference and has had negative and worsening Operating Income for each of the previous five quarters. Although there is a possibility of a double-bottom RPS 'bounce' and <strong>the company is now the most-Oversold non-financial large-cap over one year,</strong> there are no fundamental reasons to own the shares.   </p></blockquote><p>In the <strong>DETAIL </strong>section below, we list the current<strong> Very Overbought (RPS&gt;5</strong>), <strong>Too-Late-To-Buy (RPS &gt;4&lt;5)</strong> and <strong>Oversold (RPS &lt;-2)</strong> stocks as well as the most substantial three-month positive and negative changes in RPS.</p>

• RELATIVE PRICE SCORE •Source: Japan AnalyticsINTRODUCTION - The Relative Price Score (RPS) is a measure of stock price performance relative to TOPIX calculated by comparing the current deviation with the mean absolute deviation of monthly and daily relative share prices. As all companies are thus on a comparable scale, 'Overbought' and 'Oversold' outliers and changes in scoring can reveal short-term and longer-term trading opportunities. Company outlier thresholds are set at +4 &amp; -2 and equate to the top and bottom first-to-second percentiles of historical observations from which mean reversion takes a matter of months. RPS outliers with a Score of greater than 10.0 are rare outside of the 2000 tech 'bubble'. Lasertec (6920 JP) has just joined Goldwin (8111 JP) in being only the second large-cap RPS 'ten-baggers' in the last twenty years. This insight updates our list of Overbought and Oversold companies, reviews the best and worst-performing companies in terms of RPS over the last three months and adds some specific comments on stocks on each category.Source: Japan AnalyticsSTATISTICS - Currently, of the 3,706 listed companies for which monthly RPS data is available, 81 companies are 'Overbought', and 133 are 'Oversold' - 2.45% and 3.8%, respectively of the total. For the 737 companies with a market capitalisation of over ¥100b, there are 44 'Overbought' and 37 'Oversold' companies, 6% and 5%, respectively.• RELATIVE PRICE SCORE 'TOPS' •Source: Japan AnalyticsRPS 'TOPS' - In the last two years, 388 companies have achieved an RPS of '4' or more and the average Overbought 'persistence' is 42 days. 1.26% of the total of 1.94 million traded stock days were by companies with an RPS of over 4. For companies with a market capitalisation higher than ¥100b, the numbers are 95 companies and 74 days - demonstrating the superior persistence of large capitalisation companies in this regard. The chart above highlights the track record of all 95 large caps which are some point were Overbought in the last twenty-four months and illustrates the extreme outlier status of Goldwin and Lasertec.RPS NEGATIVE MEAN REVERSION - Some examples of RPS mean reversion in the last three months have been Suzuken (9987 JP), Infomart (2492 JP), Nichirei (2871 JP), and Fancl (4921 JP). Source: Japan Analytics• RELATIVE PRICE SCORE 'BOTTOMS' •
Source: Japan Analytics
RPS 'BOTTOMS' - 259 companies have seen their RPS fall to '-2' or below in the last two years, and the average Oversold 'persistence' is 83 days. 1.46% of the total of 1.94 million traded stock days were by companies with an RPS of less than -2.  For larger capitalisation companies, the numbers are 79 companies and 94 days. The chart above highlights the track record of the 79 large caps which are some point were Oversold in the last twenty-four months and illustrates the strong recovery in the REITs Sector and the continuing demise of Regional Banks.RPS POSITIVE MEAN REVERSION - Some recent examples of positive RPS mean reversions are Otsuka Holdings (4578 JP) and LINE (3938 JP).Source: Japan AnalyticsAs we noted in our June Insight: -LINE (3938 JP)- Line has performed poorly since being featured in last year's Sohn Conference and has had negative and worsening Operating Income for each of the previous five quarters. Although there is a possibility of a double-bottom RPS 'bounce' and the company is now the most-Oversold non-financial large-cap over one year, there are no fundamental reasons to own the shares.   In the DETAIL section below, we list the current Very Overbought (RPS&gt;5), Too-Late-To-Buy (RPS &gt;4&lt;5) and Oversold (RPS &lt;-2) stocks as well as the most substantial three-month positive and negative changes in RPS.

🇯🇵 Japan • September Relative Price Scores - Life at the Poles Part 2: Companies

Japan

Benefit One Inc. provides outsourcing services to major corporations in Japan. The Company provides a variety of benefit programs such as leisure, education, child care, nursing care and meal services for employees of the client companies.

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Benefit One Inc (2412 JP)

Global Equity Strategy: Stay Defensive With Technology, Health Care, Staples

Upside momentum continues to wane for global equities. Price action this week has indeed confirmed lower highs for now in the MSCI ACWI, ACWI...

Vermilion Research

StubWorld: Holdcos Behaving Badly

My second dose of StubWorld for the week is essentially an exercise in illustrating (as is evident) the truly extraordinary moves over the past...

David Blennerhassett

Pasona: Odd Man Out In Set-Up Trade

The Pasona Group (2168 JP) story is not new - but worth repeating. Pasona owns ~51% of Benefit One Inc (2412 JP) valued at ¥190bn, exceeding the...

David Blennerhassett

2168 🇯🇵 Pasona • Time to Revisit

BACK TO PASONA - Since our Insight Time to Take Some Profits of 12th April, Pasona shares have declined by 10%, underperforming the market by 12%...

Campbell Gunn

🇯🇵 Japan • September Relative Price Scores - Life at the Poles Part 2: Companies

• RELATIVE PRICE SCORE •INTRODUCTION - The Relative Price Score (RPS) is a measure of stock price performance relative to TOPIX calculated by...

Campbell Gunn

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