Japan Specialist

Mark Chadwick

Equity Bottom-Up

<ul>
<li>Keyence reported record 2Q Sales and OP, thoroughly beating street expectations. The company recorded high double-digit growth in all regions - even in Europe.  </li>
<li>Pricing power is on display 10-35% price hikes to shore up the dip in GPM to 81.3%, depressed on higher raw material costs.  Sets up for future earnings growth. </li>
<li>The share price has underperformed the TOPIX -26%YTD. Valuations at the bottom of the recent range. We expect a share price recovery and are bullish. </li>
</ul>


Keyence reported record 2Q Sales and OP, thoroughly beating street expectations. The company recorded high double-digit growth in all regions - even in Europe.  
Pricing power is on display 10-35% price hikes to shore up the dip in GPM to 81.3%, depressed on higher raw material costs.  Sets up for future earnings growth. 
The share price has underperformed the TOPIX -26%YTD. Valuations at the bottom of the recent range. We expect a share price recovery and are bullish. 


Keyence(6861 JP) | The Rise of the Phoenix – A Company like No Other

Investment Advisor, Upslope Capital Management

Upslope Capital Management

Investment Advisor

Investment advisor for Upslope Partners Fund, LP, a global long/short equity hedge fund.

<ul><li>Q1 was challenging. However, in the two weeks since Mar 31, the world has changed, owing to an intense realignment of global trade policies.</li><li>This has swiftly aligned markets more with Upslope’s portfolio and approach.</li><li>April-to-date performance1 has been strong (approx. +7%), leaving the Fund +2% YTD (vs. -12% for the S&amp;P Midcap 400).</li></ul>

Q1 was challenging. However, in the two weeks since Mar 31, the world has changed, owing to an intense realignment of global trade policies.This has swiftly aligned markets more with Upslope’s portfolio and approach.April-to-date performance1 has been strong (approx. +7%), leaving the Fund +2% YTD (vs. -12% for the S&amp;P Midcap 400).

Upslope's Quarterly Investor Letter: 2025-Q1

Asset Allocation & Fund Positioning, Copley Fund Research

Steven Holden

Asset Allocation & Fund Positioning

Copley Fund Research

Copley Fund Research provide research and data on asset allocation among Global and Emerging Market equity funds.  The analysis details absolute and relative positioning across countries, sectors and industries together with highly granular data on single stock and single fund allocations.  The data is updated monthly with time series going back to January 2011.

Global Research - Analysis of 165 prominent Global equity funds, combined AUM $335bn
GEM Research - Analysis of 127 prominent global EM equity funds, combined AUM $250bn

Asset Allocation - Global and GEM Equity

Thematic (Sector/Industry)

Among active Global investors, EMEA Industrials are the 6th largest regional sector allocation and the largest in the EMEA region, with a 4.80% holding weight on average.  This allocation places EMEA Industrials as the largest regional sector overweight at +2.05% above benchmark (vs MSCI ACWI) with 72.9% of funds holding more than the benchmark weight.Over the last 6-months, cash flows have been among the highest across all Regional Sector groups, with $1bn in net inflows, more buyers than sellers and a marginal uptick in absolute and relative weights.Over the last 6-months, German Industrials stand out as the key recipient of increased levels of positioning, with 4.2% of funds moving to overweight and 3.4% of funds buying in to the sector.Ownership in <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/deutsche-post-ag" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:21608:1" rel="noopener">Deutsche Post AG (DPW GR)</a> more than doubled from 9.2% in July 2020 to 20.8% today, with every month in between seeing new funds enter the name.  Key holders are RBC, Artemis and Nuveen, all of whom hold north of a 3% allocation.  Over the last 6-months, no closures were registered and instead 2.9% of funds opened positions, led by Cambriar's Global Equity Fund (1.88%) and John Hancock's Global Equity Fund (1.81%).The analysis looks at the positioning of 380 active Global investors with combined AUM of $1.1tr.

Among active Global investors, EMEA Industrials are the 6th largest regional sector allocation and the largest in the EMEA region, with a 4.80% holding weight on average.  This allocation places EMEA Industrials as the largest regional sector overweight at +2.05% above benchmark (vs MSCI ACWI) with 72.9% of funds holding more than the benchmark weight.Over the last 6-months, cash flows have been among the highest across all Regional Sector groups, with $1bn in net inflows, more buyers than sellers and a marginal uptick in absolute and relative weights.Over the last 6-months, German Industrials stand out as the key recipient of increased levels of positioning, with 4.2% of funds moving to overweight and 3.4% of funds buying in to the sector.Ownership in Deutsche Post AG (DPW GR) more than doubled from 9.2% in July 2020 to 20.8% today, with every month in between seeing new funds enter the name.  Key holders are RBC, Artemis and Nuveen, all of whom hold north of a 3% allocation.  Over the last 6-months, no closures were registered and instead 2.9% of funds opened positions, led by Cambriar's Global Equity Fund (1.88%) and John Hancock's Global Equity Fund (1.81%).The analysis looks at the positioning of 380 active Global investors with combined AUM of $1.1tr.

EMEA Industrials: Global Consensus Overweight

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

While a more cautious outlook is appropriate, as long as $77 holds (the September lows) we are constructive and would be buyers on a pullback. A move below $77 would start to get very concerning, and would leave $75 and the 200-day MA as last-ditch support. Considering the recent pullback we want to be sticking with areas that have continued to outperform in spite of recent broad market weakness. For that we look to the following leadership Sectors: Technology, Consumer Discretionary, Manufacturing, Materials, and Transportation

While a more cautious outlook is appropriate, as long as $77 holds (the September lows) we are constructive and would be buyers on a pullback. A move below $77 would start to get very concerning, and would leave $75 and the 200-day MA as last-ditch support. Considering the recent pullback we want to be sticking with areas that have continued to outperform in spite of recent broad market weakness. For that we look to the following leadership Sectors: Technology, Consumer Discretionary, Manufacturing, Materials, and Transportation

Developed international equities (MSCI EAFE) have been underperforming relative to global equities (MSCI ACWI). However, within EAFE, SMID-caps tell a different story and are a great source of investment ideas within the EAFE region. In today’s report we use a bottom-up approach to highlight actionable charts, sorted by market cap (all buys at current levels).

Developed international equities (MSCI EAFE) have been underperforming relative to global equities (MSCI ACWI). However, within EAFE, SMID-caps tell a different story and are a great source of investment ideas within the EAFE region. In today’s report we use a bottom-up approach to highlight actionable charts, sorted by market cap (all buys at current levels).

United Kingdom

Spirax-Sarco Engineering plc provides consultation, service and products for the control and efficient management of steam and industrial fluids.  The Company and its subsidiaries produce boiler controls, pressure controls, temperature controls, steam traps, flowmeters, monitors, safety valves, humidifiers, strainers, separators and fluid pumps.  Spirax-Sarco sells its products globally

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Spirax-Sarco Engineering (SPX LN)

Keyence(6861 JP) | The Rise of the Phoenix – A Company like No Other

2Q record earnings confirms why Keyence will continue to grow for years to come. The price hikes sets the company up for strong earnings growth. ...

Mark Chadwick

Upslope's Quarterly Investor Letter: 2025-Q1

Q1 was challenging. However, in the two weeks since Mar 31, the world has changed, owing to an intense realignment of global trade policies.

Upslope Capital Management

EMEA Industrials: Global Consensus Overweight

Over the last 6-months, cash flows into EMEA Industrials have been among the highest across all sectors, with inflows of $1bn, more buyers than...

Steven Holden

Cautiously Optimistic on Global Equities

We are constructive on global equities and would be buyers on a pullback. A move below $77 would start to get very concerning, and would leave $75...

Vermilion Research

Focus on Outperforming EAFE SMID-Caps

Developed international equities (MSCI EAFE) have been underperforming relative to global equities (MSCI ACWI). However, within EAFE, SMID-caps...

Vermilion Research

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