Pan-Asia Catalysts/Events, Quiddity Advisors

Travis Lundy

Pan-Asia Catalysts/Events

Quiddity Advisors

Quantitative Analysis

This is the next in a series of JAPAN DELTA insights regarding historical, recent, and forward flow dynamics of Japan equities. The first in this series was <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/japan-delta-i-the-boj-ups-etf-buying" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="insights:37528" rel="noopener">JAPAN DELTA I - The BOJ Ups ETF Buying</a>.<div>The TSE (now JPX) historically releases the data of <a href="http://www.jpx.co.jp/english/markets/statistics-equities/investor-type/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Trading by Type of Investors</a> on a weekly basis, by volume and by value. In that data set, the TSE tells you what the gross buys and sells and net flows are: </div><div><ul>
<li>All flows are first divided between proprietary and agency flows. </li>
<li>Gross customer flows are then separated into four major categories: trading by individuals, trading by foreigners, trading by institutions, and trading on behalf of other securities firms without seats on the exchange. </li>
<li>Institutions are separated between financial institutions (life and non-life insurers, banks, trust banks, other) and corporations (business corporations, other non-financials (which includes govt bodies acting directly (like the MoF)), and investment trusts).</li>
</ul></div><div>
In terms of actual trading flow, if one measures the gross flows...
<ul>
<li>
Individuals and Foreign Investors regularly make up 80-90% of trading volume by customers.</li>
<li>In terms of the absolute value of the net trading (summing up absolute values of nets), Individuals and Foreigners have a long-term average of 30% and 35% of summed nets of the 'customer' category. Trust Banks are about 15%. Investment Trusts and Businesses are ~5-7% each. The remainder is City Banks and Life Insurers, who trade relatively little.</li>
<li>
Corporations conduct IPOs (and Offerings) and buy back shares but only the buybacks show up in the TSE data. That means they are almost always - over a certain average period - net buyers. </li>
<li>That means on a net basis, Everybody Other Than Corporates is a net seller over time because for the past 15 years, buybacks are larger than IPOs and Offerings, and the IPOs and Offerings are not included in the TSE data.</li>
</ul>
The above means, with virtual mathematical certainty, that over time, Foreigners and Individuals will end up doing the bulk of their buying from and selling to each other unless the trading volume splits change reasonably dramatically. The question is whether the buying and selling Foreigners and Individuals do with each other has a pattern. 
Indeed, it does. Much more below the fold. 
</div>

This is the next in a series of JAPAN DELTA insights regarding historical, recent, and forward flow dynamics of Japan equities. The first in this series was JAPAN DELTA I - The BOJ Ups ETF Buying.The TSE (now JPX) historically releases the data of Trading by Type of Investors on a weekly basis, by volume and by value. In that data set, the TSE tells you what the gross buys and sells and net flows are: 
All flows are first divided between proprietary and agency flows. 
Gross customer flows are then separated into four major categories: trading by individuals, trading by foreigners, trading by institutions, and trading on behalf of other securities firms without seats on the exchange. 
Institutions are separated between financial institutions (life and non-life insurers, banks, trust banks, other) and corporations (business corporations, other non-financials (which includes govt bodies acting directly (like the MoF)), and investment trusts).

In terms of actual trading flow, if one measures the gross flows...


Individuals and Foreign Investors regularly make up 80-90% of trading volume by customers.
In terms of the absolute value of the net trading (summing up absolute values of nets), Individuals and Foreigners have a long-term average of 30% and 35% of summed nets of the 'customer' category. Trust Banks are about 15%. Investment Trusts and Businesses are ~5-7% each. The remainder is City Banks and Life Insurers, who trade relatively little.

Corporations conduct IPOs (and Offerings) and buy back shares but only the buybacks show up in the TSE data. That means they are almost always - over a certain average period - net buyers. 
That means on a net basis, Everybody Other Than Corporates is a net seller over time because for the past 15 years, buybacks are larger than IPOs and Offerings, and the IPOs and Offerings are not included in the TSE data.

The above means, with virtual mathematical certainty, that over time, Foreigners and Individuals will end up doing the bulk of their buying from and selling to each other unless the trading volume splits change reasonably dramatically. The question is whether the buying and selling Foreigners and Individuals do with each other has a pattern. 
Indeed, it does. Much more below the fold. 


JAPAN DELTA II - Foreigners And Trust Banks a WildCard

Japan/Asia Long-Short, LightStream Research

Mio Kato

Japan/Asia Long-Short

Long-Short Analysis on Japan, Asia and the World

LightStream Research

LightStream conducts quantitatively rigorous and data-driven analysis with a focus on Japan and Asia.

We consistently cover the Tech, Consumer and Industrial sectors, and provide ECM and Events coverage more broadly.

We supplement traditional qualitative insights from company relationships with a robust quantitative foundation that examines as much historical data as is available.
We further refine the accuracy of our insights and calls through the use of alternative data to flesh out current trends, and through a valuation framework that emphasises non-superficial peer group selection and a proper attempt to understand the metrics and changes that have driven security valuations in the past.

Event-Driven

With the BOJ announcing yesterday that it would double the upper limit of its ETF purchases to ¥12trn a year and its previous policy shift to favour TOPIX-based ETFs over Nikkei-based ETFs it made sense for TOPIX to outperform Nikkei today. However, we found the degree of outperformance to be slightly surprising as TOPIX rose 2.60% while the Nikkei barely squeaked out a +0.06% gain. Below, we examine some individual names within the two indices to try and identify pairs which could generate alpha based on this theme.

With the BOJ announcing yesterday that it would double the upper limit of its ETF purchases to ¥12trn a year and its previous policy shift to favour TOPIX-based ETFs over Nikkei-based ETFs it made sense for TOPIX to outperform Nikkei today. However, we found the degree of outperformance to be slightly surprising as TOPIX rose 2.60% while the Nikkei barely squeaked out a +0.06% gain. Below, we examine some individual names within the two indices to try and identify pairs which could generate alpha based on this theme.

'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. 

<figure class="editor-figure mceNonEditable"><img src="https://static-prod.smartkarma.com/images/media/000/122/342/original/2020-03-11_11-02-32.png?1583892183" class="editor-image img-responsive" data-smartkarma-image-id="122342"></figure><figure class="editor-figure mceNonEditable"><img src="https://static-prod.smartkarma.com/images/media/000/122/590/original/2020-03-12_07-42-03.png?1583966536" class="editor-image img-responsive" data-smartkarma-image-id="122590"></figure><div class="content-caption">Source • Japan Analytics</div>CUMULATIVE CASH FLOWS - In this third and final of our series on Japanese companies that might be compromised as the Covid-19 recession unfolds,  we shall look at Cumulative Cash Flows. Our cash flow model is derived from the disclosed Balance Sheets and Statements of Comprehensive Income and balances to zero for every company for every comparable period. Variations in disclosure between the audited annual yuho and unaudited quarterly kessan tanshin reports, notably when the company is reporting under the weaker IFRS standard can result in unavoidable quarter-to-quarter variations. Consequently, our analysis will focus on year-on-year changes as of the most recent quarterly disclosure irrespective of fiscal year-end.  Our review will cover six principal cash flow metrics:-<ul>
<li>
Operating Cash Flow - Operating Cash Flow comprises all cash flow items relating to transactions with customers and suppliers except inventory cash flows.</li>
<li>
Investing Cash Flow - Investing Cash Flow comprises cash flow to or from Fixed Assets and Inventories. Unlike GAAP Cash Flows Statements, It does not include investments in financial assets.</li>
<li>
Inventory Cash Flow - A sub-set of Investing Cash Flow, inventory Cash Flow is the change in Inventory on the Balance Sheet. </li>
<li>
Free Cash Flow - Free Cash Flow the sum of Operating Cash Flow, Fixed Asset Cash Flow and Inventory Cash Flow.</li>
<li>
Financing Cash Flow - Financing Cash Flow comprises Debt &amp; Lease Liabilities, Investments and the taxation that is allocated to Financing Cash Flow. Debt &amp; Lease Liabilities includes changes in Short and Long-Term Debt and Lease Liabilities and Interest and Bond Issuance Expenses.' Investments' includes Interest &amp; Dividend Income, Purchases and Sales of Securities, Loans, Gains and Losses on Marketable Securities and Equity Earnings.</li>
<li>Change in Cash - Change in Cash is the sum of Free Cash Flow, Financing Cash Flow and Shareholder Cash Flow after including Minorities &amp; Adjustments. </li>
</ul>EXCLUDED - Four companies have been excluded from our review as they have substantial financial subsidiaries - <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/z-holdings-corp" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:19603:1" rel="noopener">Z Holdings (4689 JP)</a>, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/rakuten-inc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:31:1" rel="noopener">Rakuten (4755 JP)</a>, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/sony-corp" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:563:1" rel="noopener">Sony (6758 JP)</a>, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/japan-post-holdings-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:359:1" rel="noopener">Japan Post (6178 JP)</a> which distort their balance sheets. We have also excluded companies with a current market cap below ¥50b, although some exceptions have been made for abnormally large movements, such as those in <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/japan-display-inc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:8280:1" rel="noopener">Japan Display (6740 JP).</a><a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/toshiba-corp" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:637:1" rel="noopener">Toshiba (6502 JP)</a>-  As an example of our analysis, Toshiba has seen the largest reduction in Cash as a percentage of market value over the last twelve months of any large-cap Japanese company. Toshiba's cash balance has declined by ¥1.4 trillion since peaking in 2019-Q2 - 114% of the current market cap. 70% of the cash generated between 2018-Q4 and 2019-Q2 has been allocated to share repurchases, dividends and cash reduction. The company's net cash remains at a healthy 51% of market value and 43% of Shareholders' Equity; however, Cumulative Operating Cash Flow will fall below zero in the current quarter. There are few additional reductions in Fixed Assets and Inventories that can be sustained without irreparable damage. The logic of buying back shares in an entity that has negative residual returns is not clear to us. Despite the potential for a TOPIX re-inclusion 'bounce', fundamentally the stock should be avoided.<div class="content-highlight">In the DETAIL Section below, we shall look at the top (or bottom) thirty large-cap companies on each of the metric above scaled by market capitalisation. </div>

Source • Japan AnalyticsCUMULATIVE CASH FLOWS - In this third and final of our series on Japanese companies that might be compromised as the Covid-19 recession unfolds,  we shall look at Cumulative Cash Flows. Our cash flow model is derived from the disclosed Balance Sheets and Statements of Comprehensive Income and balances to zero for every company for every comparable period. Variations in disclosure between the audited annual yuho and unaudited quarterly kessan tanshin reports, notably when the company is reporting under the weaker IFRS standard can result in unavoidable quarter-to-quarter variations. Consequently, our analysis will focus on year-on-year changes as of the most recent quarterly disclosure irrespective of fiscal year-end.  Our review will cover six principal cash flow metrics:-

Operating Cash Flow - Operating Cash Flow comprises all cash flow items relating to transactions with customers and suppliers except inventory cash flows.

Investing Cash Flow - Investing Cash Flow comprises cash flow to or from Fixed Assets and Inventories. Unlike GAAP Cash Flows Statements, It does not include investments in financial assets.

Inventory Cash Flow - A sub-set of Investing Cash Flow, inventory Cash Flow is the change in Inventory on the Balance Sheet. 

Free Cash Flow - Free Cash Flow the sum of Operating Cash Flow, Fixed Asset Cash Flow and Inventory Cash Flow.

Financing Cash Flow - Financing Cash Flow comprises Debt &amp; Lease Liabilities, Investments and the taxation that is allocated to Financing Cash Flow. Debt &amp; Lease Liabilities includes changes in Short and Long-Term Debt and Lease Liabilities and Interest and Bond Issuance Expenses.' Investments' includes Interest &amp; Dividend Income, Purchases and Sales of Securities, Loans, Gains and Losses on Marketable Securities and Equity Earnings.
Change in Cash - Change in Cash is the sum of Free Cash Flow, Financing Cash Flow and Shareholder Cash Flow after including Minorities &amp; Adjustments. 
EXCLUDED - Four companies have been excluded from our review as they have substantial financial subsidiaries - Z Holdings (4689 JP), Rakuten (4755 JP), Sony (6758 JP), Japan Post (6178 JP) which distort their balance sheets. We have also excluded companies with a current market cap below ¥50b, although some exceptions have been made for abnormally large movements, such as those in Japan Display (6740 JP).Toshiba (6502 JP)-  As an example of our analysis, Toshiba has seen the largest reduction in Cash as a percentage of market value over the last twelve months of any large-cap Japanese company. Toshiba's cash balance has declined by ¥1.4 trillion since peaking in 2019-Q2 - 114% of the current market cap. 70% of the cash generated between 2018-Q4 and 2019-Q2 has been allocated to share repurchases, dividends and cash reduction. The company's net cash remains at a healthy 51% of market value and 43% of Shareholders' Equity; however, Cumulative Operating Cash Flow will fall below zero in the current quarter. There are few additional reductions in Fixed Assets and Inventories that can be sustained without irreparable damage. The logic of buying back shares in an entity that has negative residual returns is not clear to us. Despite the potential for a TOPIX re-inclusion 'bounce', fundamentally the stock should be avoided.In the DETAIL Section below, we shall look at the top (or bottom) thirty large-cap companies on each of the metric above scaled by market capitalisation. 

🇯🇵 JAPAN • Who’s Swimming Naked? > Part 3: Cumulative Cash Flow

<figure class="editor-figure mceNonEditable"><img src="https://static-prod.smartkarma.com/images/media/000/121/977/original/2020-03-09_14-29-36.png?1583731808" class="editor-image img-responsive" data-smartkarma-image-id="121977"></figure><div class="content-caption">Source • Stoxx.com</div>ALTMAN'S Z-SCORE - Dr Edward Altman's Z-Score has been in use for over 50 years as a statistical model to calculate the probability of bankruptcy which built on the work of William Beaver and R.A. Fisher. Altman's original article (attached below) was published in the September 1968 issue of the Journal of Finance when he was an assistant professor of finance at NYU Stern.  The 'classic' Z-Score sampled publically-traded manufacturing companies. Later versions were formulated for private companies, non-manufacturing companies and emerging markets.  The model is between 80% and 90% accurate in predicting bankruptcy one year ahead of the event, while the rate of false positives has been between 15% and 20%.APPLICATION TO JAPAN - We have been using Altman Z-Scores in Japan since the mid-1980s. We have found the Scores to be reasonably predictive, as has been confirmed by several academic papers, including  <a href="https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/A-Model-of-Bankruptcy-Prediction%3A-Calibration-of/5565168f75b578ba28115ef314acbdd387f82483" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gurau (2013)</a>. The persistence of a large number of 'zombie' companies supported by banks or keiretsu 'relatives' has, however, reduced the overall 'hit' rate for larger listed companies. The following charts show a timeline of the Altman Z-Score and Market Capitalisation for several memorable Japanese corporate bankruptcies. <figure class="editor-figure mceNonEditable"><img src="https://static-prod.smartkarma.com/images/media/000/122/005/original/2020-03-09_15-53-11.png?1583736804" class="editor-image img-responsive" data-smartkarma-image-id="122005"></figure><figure class="editor-figure mceNonEditable"><img src="https://static-prod.smartkarma.com/images/media/000/122/006/original/2020-03-09_15-54-52.png?1583736903" class="editor-image img-responsive" data-smartkarma-image-id="122006"></figure><figure class="editor-figure mceNonEditable"><img src="https://static-prod.smartkarma.com/images/media/000/122/007/original/2020-03-09_15-56-58.png?1583737032" class="editor-image img-responsive" data-smartkarma-image-id="122007"></figure><figure class="editor-figure mceNonEditable"><img src="https://static-prod.smartkarma.com/images/media/000/122/009/original/2020-03-09_15-59-08.png?1583737161" class="editor-image img-responsive" data-smartkarma-image-id="122009"></figure><figure class="editor-figure mceNonEditable"><img src="https://static-prod.smartkarma.com/images/media/000/122/011/original/2020-03-09_16-03-28.png?1583737425" class="editor-image img-responsive" data-smartkarma-image-id="122011"></figure><div class="content-caption">Source • Japan Analytics</div><div class="content-highlight">This Insight is the second part of a three-part series attempting to highlight those Japanese companies that at the highest risk from the 2020 Covid-19 recession. The first focused on the<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/japan-who-s-swimming-naked-part-1-audit-score" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="insights:37265" rel="noopener">Audit Score</a>, while a forthcoming Insight will look at Cumulative Cash Flows.</div>

Source • Stoxx.comALTMAN'S Z-SCORE - Dr Edward Altman's Z-Score has been in use for over 50 years as a statistical model to calculate the probability of bankruptcy which built on the work of William Beaver and R.A. Fisher. Altman's original article (attached below) was published in the September 1968 issue of the Journal of Finance when he was an assistant professor of finance at NYU Stern.  The 'classic' Z-Score sampled publically-traded manufacturing companies. Later versions were formulated for private companies, non-manufacturing companies and emerging markets.  The model is between 80% and 90% accurate in predicting bankruptcy one year ahead of the event, while the rate of false positives has been between 15% and 20%.APPLICATION TO JAPAN - We have been using Altman Z-Scores in Japan since the mid-1980s. We have found the Scores to be reasonably predictive, as has been confirmed by several academic papers, including  Gurau (2013). The persistence of a large number of 'zombie' companies supported by banks or keiretsu 'relatives' has, however, reduced the overall 'hit' rate for larger listed companies. The following charts show a timeline of the Altman Z-Score and Market Capitalisation for several memorable Japanese corporate bankruptcies. Source • Japan AnalyticsThis Insight is the second part of a three-part series attempting to highlight those Japanese companies that at the highest risk from the 2020 Covid-19 recession. The first focused on theAudit Score, while a forthcoming Insight will look at Cumulative Cash Flows.

🇯🇵 JAPAN • Who’s Swimming Naked? > Part 2: Altman Z-Score

<div class="content-caption">
<figure class="editor-figure mceNonEditable"><img src="https://static-prod.smartkarma.com/images/media/000/121/814/original/naakt-jpg.png?1583659197" class="editor-image img-responsive" data-smartkarma-image-id="121814"></figure>Source  • <a href="https://hollandbesthotels.wordpress.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://hollandbesthotels.wordpress.com/</a>
</div><blockquote><a href="http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/2001ar/2001letter.html" target="_blank" aria-describedby="external-disclaimer" rel="noopener">“You only find out who is swimming naked when the tide goes out. “</a>- Warren Buffett</blockquote>WHO'S SWIMMING NAKED? - This is the first part of three Insights that will in the spirit of Buffett's famous quip, attempt to highlight those Japanese companies that at the greatest risk from the 2020 Covid-19 recession. We will focus on three factors - the Audit Score, the Altman Z-Score and Cumulative Cash Flows - that individually, and in combination, can highlight those companies most at risk.<hr><figure class="editor-figure mceNonEditable"><img src="https://static-prod.smartkarma.com/images/media/000/121/877/original/2020-03-09_07-18-54.png?1583705968" class="editor-image img-responsive" data-smartkarma-image-id="121877"></figure><div class="content-caption">Source • Japan Analytics</div>PART 1: AUDIT SCORE - This factor is 'hiding in plain sight'. Since 2003, the Auditors' Opinion has been available in a format that allows 'parsing' into a database format and the creation of an 'Audit Score'. Although often a coincident rather than a leading indicator, by cumulating the score from year to year, patterns can emerge that highlight unfolding risks as in the case of <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/leopalace21-corp" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:8244:1" rel="noopener">Leopalace21 Corp (8848 JP)</a> above.


Source  • https://hollandbesthotels.wordpress.com/
“You only find out who is swimming naked when the tide goes out. “- Warren BuffettWHO'S SWIMMING NAKED? - This is the first part of three Insights that will in the spirit of Buffett's famous quip, attempt to highlight those Japanese companies that at the greatest risk from the 2020 Covid-19 recession. We will focus on three factors - the Audit Score, the Altman Z-Score and Cumulative Cash Flows - that individually, and in combination, can highlight those companies most at risk.Source • Japan AnalyticsPART 1: AUDIT SCORE - This factor is 'hiding in plain sight'. Since 2003, the Auditors' Opinion has been available in a format that allows 'parsing' into a database format and the creation of an 'Audit Score'. Although often a coincident rather than a leading indicator, by cumulating the score from year to year, patterns can emerge that highlight unfolding risks as in the case of Leopalace21 Corp (8848 JP) above.   

🇯🇵 JAPAN • Who's Swimming Naked? > Part 1: Audit Score

Japan

Sony Corporation manufactures audio, home video game consoles, communications, key device and information technology products for the consumer and professional markets.  The Company's other businesses include music, pictures, computer entertainment, and online businesses.

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Sony Corp (6758 JP)

JAPAN DELTA II - Foreigners And Trust Banks a WildCard

This is the next in a series of JAPAN DELTA insights regarding historical, recent, and forward flow dynamics of Japan equities. The first in this...

Travis Lundy

The Topix Vs. Nikkei Skew

With the BOJ announcing yesterday that it would double the upper limit of its ETF purchases to ¥12trn a year and its previous policy shift to...

Mio Kato

🇯🇵 JAPAN • Who’s Swimming Naked? > Part 3: Cumulative Cash Flow

CUMULATIVE CASH FLOWS - In this third and final of our series on Japanese companies that might be compromised as the Covid-19 recession unfolds, ...

Campbell Gunn

🇯🇵 JAPAN • Who’s Swimming Naked? > Part 2: Altman Z-Score

ALTMAN'S Z-SCORE - Dr Edward Altman's Z-Score has been in use for over 50 years as a statistical model to calculate the probability of bankruptcy...

Campbell Gunn

🇯🇵 JAPAN • Who's Swimming Naked? > Part 1: Audit Score

“You only find out who is swimming naked when the tide goes out. “- Warren BuffettWHO'S SWIMMING NAKED? - This is the first part of three Insights...

Campbell Gunn

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