Japanese Turnaround Situations, Short-Ideas, Azabu Research

Michael Allen

Japanese Turnaround Situations, Short-Ideas

Azabu Research

Azabu Research is a publishing and consulting firm focused on distressed equities in the Japanese market. We specialize in turnaround strategies, corporate combinations, divestitures, and restructuring.

Publisher of the Tokyo Turnaround Letter, which conducts the most thorough research possible of publicly available information, including forensic tests for fraudulent overstatement of assets and understatement of liabilities, as well as rigorous market and industry analysis to assess the underlying strengths of the company’s products or services, the appropriateness of the company’s turnaround strategy, and the skill of its current management team. The average length of a report exceeds 25 pages of text and tables, excluding any disclosures or executive summaries.

We have more than 30 years of experience in applying this process to distressed equities in Japan. Additionally, subscribers have free access to detailed, yet easily navigated earnings models for the target company as well as the top five comparable companies, and unlimited access to the analyst for follow-up questions.

Azabu Research also conducts be-spoke research on a project basis, and provides consulting services to companies looking to restructure, divest, make acquisitions, go public, or improve investor sentiment toward their stock.

Independent Research and Consulting Firm

Equity Bottom-Up

<ul>
<li>2025 will start with more attractive turnaround opportunities than we have seen in a long time. </li>
<li>An uptick in TOBs, MBOs and merger discussions makes it suddenly no longer safe to short low-PBR companies indiscriminately.</li>
<li>Investors are noticing. More than two-dozen large- and medium-cap stocks with deep discounts to the benchmark began to bounce off well-defined support levels in late December.</li>
</ul>


2025 will start with more attractive turnaround opportunities than we have seen in a long time. 
An uptick in TOBs, MBOs and merger discussions makes it suddenly no longer safe to short low-PBR companies indiscriminately.
Investors are noticing. More than two-dozen large- and medium-cap stocks with deep discounts to the benchmark began to bounce off well-defined support levels in late December.


Unloved Japan Round Up Jan. 3: Set Up for A Banner Year?

Asia Pac IPO & Placement Research, China biotech, Aequitas Research

Ke Yan, CFA, FRM

Asia Pac IPO & Placement Research, China biotech

IPOs and Placements coverage across Asia Pacific

Aequitas Research

We cover all listing across the Asia Pacific along with follow-up placements. As of Dec 2020, our team had covered 539 IPOs with a hit rate of 73.5% and 685 placements with a hit rate of 66.8%.

We combine fundamental bottom-up views with our proprietary quantitative framework to provide a holistic coverage across new listings and placements. Our coverage includes pre-IPO notes before the deal is launched, follow-up analysis once the deal is live and post-listing trading analysis as well.

Quantitative Analysis

<ul>
<li>We analyzed the changes in margin trading positions of JPX stocks as of Oct 3rd. The aggregated net margin trading position is USD17,873m.</li>
<li>We tabulate league tables for top/bottom net long/short of margin trading by value, net margin buy as multiple of ADT.</li>
<li>We highlight net margin buy/sell changes in IHI, Nippon Steel, Nitori, Ai Robotics, Pan Pacific International, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Disco, Kintetsu, Yamada, Ihi.</li>
</ul>


We analyzed the changes in margin trading positions of JPX stocks as of Oct 3rd. The aggregated net margin trading position is USD17,873m.
We tabulate league tables for top/bottom net long/short of margin trading by value, net margin buy as multiple of ADT.
We highlight net margin buy/sell changes in IHI, Nippon Steel, Nitori, Ai Robotics, Pan Pacific International, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Disco, Kintetsu, Yamada, Ihi.


JPX Margin Trading Weekly (Oct 3rd): IHI, Nippon Steel, Nitori, Ai Robotics

<ul>
<li>We analyzed the changes in margin trading positions of JPX stocks as of Sep 26th. The aggregated net margin trading position is USD13,494m.</li>
<li>We tabulate league tables for top/bottom net long/short of margin trading by value, net margin buy as multiple of ADT.</li>
<li>We highlight net margin buy/sell changes in Sanrio, Advantest, SoftBank, IHI, Kintetsu, Zensho, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Tokyo Electron, Nagoya Railroad, Sanrio, Advantest, Softbank, Ihi.</li>
</ul>


We analyzed the changes in margin trading positions of JPX stocks as of Sep 26th. The aggregated net margin trading position is USD13,494m.
We tabulate league tables for top/bottom net long/short of margin trading by value, net margin buy as multiple of ADT.
We highlight net margin buy/sell changes in Sanrio, Advantest, SoftBank, IHI, Kintetsu, Zensho, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Tokyo Electron, Nagoya Railroad, Sanrio, Advantest, Softbank, Ihi.


JPX Margin Trading Weekly (Sep 26th): Sanrio, Advantest, SoftBank, IHI, Kintetsu, Zensho

Keisei Electric Railway Co / Equity Bottom-Up

<ul>
<li>Activist investors, confusing market price with intrinsic value, have shot themselves in the foot by offering terrible advice to Keisei Railway’s management. </li>
<li>When Keisei followed advice from the activist, selling just 1% of the shares of Oriental Land, Keisei's share price collapsed, proving market price has nothing to do with intrinsic value. </li>
<li>Keisei’s revenue growth and return on investment are stronger than most of its peers, and the crash in its stock price caused by activists might create an opportunity for others.</li>
</ul>


Activist investors, confusing market price with intrinsic value, have shot themselves in the foot by offering terrible advice to Keisei Railway’s management. 
When Keisei followed advice from the activist, selling just 1% of the shares of Oriental Land, Keisei's share price collapsed, proving market price has nothing to do with intrinsic value. 
Keisei’s revenue growth and return on investment are stronger than most of its peers, and the crash in its stock price caused by activists might create an opportunity for others.


Keisei Railway (9009) Gets Bad Advice from Activists, Which Is Good for The Rest of US

IPOs and Catalysts/Events, Global Equity Research Ltd

Arun George

IPOs and Catalysts/Events

Uncompromised, Independent, Conflict-Free Research

Global Equity Research Ltd

Global Equity Research was started in 2017 by a group of experienced research professionals. It was founded on a passionate belief in the importance and the need for uncompromised, independent, conflict-free research. We aim to provide differentiated and actionable primary and bottom up fundamental research.

Equity Capital Markets

<ul>
<li>
<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/tokyo-metro-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:40930:1" rel="noopener">Tokyo Metro (9023 JP)</a> priced its IPO at JPY1,200 per share to raise gross proceeds of US$2.3 billion. The shares will start trading on 23 October.</li>
<li>We previously discussed the IPO in <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/tokyo-metro-9023-jp-ipo-the-bull-case" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="insights:160168" rel="noopener">Tokyo Metro (9023 JP) IPO: The Bull Case</a>, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/tokyo-metro-9023-jp-ipo-the-bear-case" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="insights:160399" rel="noopener">Tokyo Metro (9023 JP) IPO: The Bear Case</a> and <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/tokyo-metro-9023-jp-ipo-valuation-insights" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="insights:161071" rel="noopener">Tokyo Metro (9023 JP) IPO: Valuation Insights</a>.</li>
<li>The peers have modestly derated since the prospectus was released on 20 September. The IPO price remains attractive, particularly relating to the implied dividend yield.</li>
</ul>



Tokyo Metro (9023 JP) priced its IPO at JPY1,200 per share to raise gross proceeds of US$2.3 billion. The shares will start trading on 23 October.
We previously discussed the IPO in Tokyo Metro (9023 JP) IPO: The Bull Case, Tokyo Metro (9023 JP) IPO: The Bear Case and Tokyo Metro (9023 JP) IPO: Valuation Insights.
The peers have modestly derated since the prospectus was released on 20 September. The IPO price remains attractive, particularly relating to the implied dividend yield.


Japan

Nagoya Railroad Co., Ltd. mainly provides passenger rail and bus transportation services in the Chubu area.  The Company also leases and sells real estate and operates leisure-related businesses such as department stores, hotels, and travel agents.

Price Gauge
52-week Range	0.00 - 0.00
Market Cap (USDm)	0.00
P/E	0.00
Dividend (Yield)	0.00

Nagoya Railroad (9048 JP)

Unloved Japan Round Up Jan. 3: Set Up for A Banner Year?

An uptick in TOBs, MBOs, and mergers creating the best environment for deep value turnarounds in a long time. Dozens of discounted stocks started...

Michael Allen

JPX Margin Trading Weekly (Oct 3rd): IHI, Nippon Steel, Nitori, Ai Robotics

We analyzed JPX margin trading positions report for the past week and highlighted IHI (7013 JP), Nippon Steel (5401 JP), Nitori (9843 JP), Ai...

Ke Yan, CFA, FRM

JPX Margin Trading Weekly (Sep 26th): Sanrio, Advantest, SoftBank, IHI, Kintetsu, Zensho

We analyzed JPX margin trading positions report for the past week and highlighted Sanrio (8136 JP), Advantest (6857 JP), SoftBank (9984 JP), IHI...

Ke Yan, CFA, FRM

Keisei Railway (9009) Gets Bad Advice from Activists, Which Is Good for The Rest of US

Activist investors' bad advice to Keisei Railway led to a stock price collapse, highlighting the disconnect between market price and intrinsic...

Michael Allen

Tokyo Metro (9023 JP) IPO: Trading Debut

The shares will start trading on 23 October. The IPO price remains attractive, particularly relating to the implied dividend yield.

Arun George

Price Gauge

52-week Range

Market Cap (USDm)

P/E

Dividend (Yield)

Unloved Japan Round Up Jan. 3: Set Up for A Banner Year?

An uptick in TOBs, MBOs, and mergers​ creating the best environment for deep value turnarounds in a long time. Dozens of discounted stocks started...

Michael Allen

JPX Margin Trading Weekly (Oct 3rd): IHI, Nippon Steel, Nitori, Ai Robotics

We analyzed JPX margin trading positions report for the past week and highlighted IHI (7013 JP), Nippon Steel (5401 JP), Nitori (9843 JP), Ai...

Ke Yan, CFA, FRM

JPX Margin Trading Weekly (Sep 26th): Sanrio, Advantest, SoftBank, IHI, Kintetsu, Zensho

We analyzed JPX margin trading positions report for the past week and highlighted Sanrio (8136 JP), Advantest (6857 JP), SoftBank (9984 JP), IHI...

Ke Yan, CFA, FRM

Keisei Railway (9009) Gets Bad Advice from Activists, Which Is Good for The Rest of US

​Activist investors' bad advice to Keisei Railway led to a stock price collapse, highlighting the disconnect between market price and intrinsic...

Michael Allen

Tokyo Metro (9023 JP) IPO: Trading Debut

The shares will start trading on 23 October. The IPO price remains attractive, particularly relating to the implied dividend yield.

Arun George

An uptick in TOBs, MBOs, and mergers creating the best environment for deep value turnarounds in a long time. Dozens of discounted stocks started...

Activist investors' bad advice to Keisei Railway led to a stock price collapse, highlighting the disconnect between market price and intrinsic...