Research from Asian Century Stocks, Asian Century Stocks

Michael Fritzell

Research from Asian Century Stocks

Providing financial journalism in the Asia-Pacific

Asian Century Stocks

Asian Century Stocks is a newsletter providing financial journalism for companies and stocks in the Asia-Pacific. 
The Asian Century Stocks logotype “百” stands for “one hundred” or a “century”. The economic centre of gravity is moving towards Asia. Yet most global investors are missing out.

Equity Bottom-Up

<h2>Executive summary</h2>
<p>Sony is in the early stage of the PlayStation 5 console cycle. The gaming console is likely to become a major success. In addition, several other growth drivers such as demand for camera image sensors and content for music and video streaming services are also positive for Sony’s near- to medium-term outlook.</p>
<p>The longer-term outlook for Sony’s music label and Hollywood studio can be questioned as streaming platforms disintermediate the two industries. You can also question some of Sony’s recent acquisitions, including its foray into the Japanese insurance market.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, the outlook for Sony’s earnings is excellent and I see an upside of +23% to a target price of JPY 13,920/share, assuming a 2024 EV/EBIT multiple of 15x.</p>

Executive summary
Sony is in the early stage of the PlayStation 5 console cycle. The gaming console is likely to become a major success. In addition, several other growth drivers such as demand for camera image sensors and content for music and video streaming services are also positive for Sony’s near- to medium-term outlook.
The longer-term outlook for Sony’s music label and Hollywood studio can be questioned as streaming platforms disintermediate the two industries. You can also question some of Sony’s recent acquisitions, including its foray into the Japanese insurance market.
Nevertheless, the outlook for Sony’s earnings is excellent and I see an upside of +23% to a target price of JPY 13,920/share, assuming a 2024 EV/EBIT multiple of 15x.

Sony (6758 JP): Weighing the Bull and Bear Case

External broker reports(aggregated public sources), CMB International

CMB International

External broker reports(aggregated public sources)

Incorporated in Hong Kong, supported by the mainland and targeting in global market, CMB International Capital Corporation Limited (“CMBI”) is an integrated financial institution providing comprehensive and professional services. As a wholly-owned subsidiary of China Merchants Bank ("CMB"), by leveraging on the Group’s synergy and coordination in domestic and overseas markets, as well as CMB’s strong resources and outstanding social reputation, CMBI and its subsidiaries have been actively implementing diversified business strategies and set up an overall layout of main business segments including Corporate Finance, Asset Management, Wealth Management, Global Markets and Structured Finance, etc. Adhering to the philosophy of “being clients oriented and increasing our own values by the way of creating value for clients”, CMBI endeavors to provide quality and integrated financial services to institutional, corporate and individual customers both domestic and overseas including Hong Kong IPO sponsorship and underwriting, share placement and rights issue for listed companies, financial advisors, bonds issuance services, asset management, direct investment, wealth management, equity sales and trading, etc.

Thematic (Sector/Industry)

<ul><li>CIS market revenue was US$21.3bn in 2022, stagnated with 0.2% YoY decline, according to Yole.</li><li>The sales from mobile segment (US$13.5bn) remained flat. Auto CIS sales grew 13.7% YoY to US$2.2bn, surpassing Security CIS, which experienced significant decline (42.8% YoY) in the past year.</li><li>Domestic CIS players took a strong hit by 1) the weak mobile/security demand, 2) slower-thanexpected inventory digestion and 3) intensified competition among overseas and domestic peers. </li></ul><p><em>Content is external broker report sourced from online content aggregator through publicly available sources and is displayed below for general informational purposes only. Refer full disclaimer below.</em></p>

CIS market revenue was US$21.3bn in 2022, stagnated with 0.2% YoY decline, according to Yole.The sales from mobile segment (US$13.5bn) remained flat. Auto CIS sales grew 13.7% YoY to US$2.2bn, surpassing Security CIS, which experienced significant decline (42.8% YoY) in the past year.Domestic CIS players took a strong hit by 1) the weak mobile/security demand, 2) slower-thanexpected inventory digestion and 3) intensified competition among overseas and domestic peers. Content is external broker report sourced from online content aggregator through publicly available sources and is displayed below for general informational purposes only. Refer full disclaimer below.

Semi – China CIS sector – Solid auto CIS growth offset by weak mobile CIS demand

Research from Water Tower Research, Water Tower Research

Water Tower Research

Research from Water Tower Research

Water Tower Research is a leading equity research firm that provides research on micro, small and mid cap companies.

Water Tower Research was founded by Wall Street veterans after witnessing a fundamental shift in the investment research industry with the result being a declining knowledge base among investors, a lack of awareness and a shrinking pool of fundamental research being conducted on companies across the small-cap and micro-cap spectrum. The same issues are now increasingly occurring in the mid-cap space. This sea change within the investment community is impacting not only the companies themselves but also current shareholders and potential investors. With significantly less active sell-side sponsorship by Wall Street, a substantial information gap has developed between companies and various constituents in the financial community. The net result is fewer channels for insight and information to flow between companies and investors.

Equity Research Firm

<ul style="list-style-type: disc;"><li><p>META Materials had a large presence at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) earlier this month, with a booth in the North Hall, in the APMA booth in the West Hall, and in the Innovation Awards Showcase at the Venetian.</p></li><li><p>It also participated in the ShowStoppers @ CES 2023 technology showcase for the media.</p></li><li><p>META among the most talked about companies at CES. According to BuzzRadar, META was the #1 most talked about brand on Day 2 of CES, surpassing well-known companies such as Lenovo, BMW, and Sony.</p></li></ul>

META Materials had a large presence at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) earlier this month, with a booth in the North Hall, in the APMA booth in the West Hall, and in the Innovation Awards Showcase at the Venetian.It also participated in the ShowStoppers @ CES 2023 technology showcase for the media.META among the most talked about companies at CES. According to BuzzRadar, META was the #1 most talked about brand on Day 2 of CES, surpassing well-known companies such as Lenovo, BMW, and Sony.

Meta Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ: MMAT) - CES Highlights Product Offerings

<div><div><div><div><ul><li>We expect global CIS sales to decline 5.1% YoY in 2022, mainly dragged by the weak performance in mobile CIS market.</li><li>We expect CIS market to recover in 2H23, as mobile CIS inventory level returns to a normal level.</li><li>However, challenges remain given high uncertainties in economy and geopolitical issues.</li></ul></div></div></div></div><p><em>Content is external broker report sourced from online content aggregator through publicly available sources and is displayed below for general informational purposes only. Refer full disclaimer below.</em></p>

We expect global CIS sales to decline 5.1% YoY in 2022, mainly dragged by the weak performance in mobile CIS market.We expect CIS market to recover in 2H23, as mobile CIS inventory level returns to a normal level.However, challenges remain given high uncertainties in economy and geopolitical issues.Content is external broker report sourced from online content aggregator through publicly available sources and is displayed below for general informational purposes only. Refer full disclaimer below.

China CIS Sector – Maintain long-term positive outlook; near-term challenges persist

Latest News from the World’s Leading Innovators

Granite Bay Capital

An innovation focussed investment company

Granite Bay Capital is an innovation focussed investment company with a deep focus on the companies at the leading edge of innovation across major themes such as AI, ubiquitous computing, sustainability, automation and longevity.

<h2>Headline Developments</h2><p>At 90, William Shatner became the oldest person to ever reach space, telling Blue Origin’s Jeff Bezos “what you have given me is the most profound experience” that “I hope I never recover from”.  I’m sure Bezos also breathed a huge sigh of relief because if anything happened to Captain Kirk there would have been one hell of a reaction from Star Trek fans!</p><p>Microsoft (MSFT) and Nvidia (NVDA) have trained the world’s most advanced AI-powered language model, Megatron-Turing Natural Language Generation (MT-NLP), containing 530 billion parameters to achieve unmatched accuracy across natural language tasks such as reading comprehension and commonsense reasoning.</p>

Headline DevelopmentsAt 90, William Shatner became the oldest person to ever reach space, telling Blue Origin’s Jeff Bezos “what you have given me is the most profound experience” that “I hope I never recover from”.  I’m sure Bezos also breathed a huge sigh of relief because if anything happened to Captain Kirk there would have been one hell of a reaction from Star Trek fans!Microsoft (MSFT) and Nvidia (NVDA) have trained the world’s most advanced AI-powered language model, Megatron-Turing Natural Language Generation (MT-NLP), containing 530 billion parameters to achieve unmatched accuracy across natural language tasks such as reading comprehension and commonsense reasoning.

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.

Sony Corp (6758 JP)

Sony (6758 JP): Weighing the Bull and Bear Case

Sony is in the early stage of the PlayStation 5 console cycle. The gaming console is likely to become a major success. In addition, several other...

Asian Century Stocks

Semi – China CIS sector – Solid auto CIS growth offset by weak mobile CIS demand

The sales from mobile segment (US$13.5bn) remained flat. Auto CIS sales grew 13.7% YoY to US$2.2bn, surpassing Security CIS, which experienced...

CMB International

Meta Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ: MMAT) - CES Highlights Product Offerings

META Materials had a large presence at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) earlier this month, with a booth in the North Hall, in the APMA booth in...

Water Tower Research

China CIS Sector – Maintain long-term positive outlook; near-term challenges persist

We expect CIS market to recover in 2H23, as mobile CIS inventory level returns to a normal level.However, challenges remain given high...

CMB International

Weekly Innovation Review (WIRE) #53

At 90, William Shatner became the oldest person to ever reach space, telling Blue Origin’s Jeff Bezos “what you have given me is the most profound...

Granite Bay Capital