Equity Analyst, LightStream Research

Chacko Jacob

Equity Analyst

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.

Equity Bottom-Up

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<p><a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/12933" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:12933:1">Kao Corp (4452 JP)</a> is at a crossroads where it must look to alternate channels and regions to continue its growth. Unlike peers like Shiseido and Kose, the company was late in getting on e-commerce platforms and tapping travel retail. The decline in domestic revenue in FY17 served as an eye-opener for the company and culminated in changes in strategy that saw the company trim its cosmetic line and look aggressively at other Asian markets for growth. As the company continues its overhaul through…</p>
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Kao Corp (4452 JP) is at a crossroads where it must look to alternate channels and regions to continue its growth. Unlike peers like Shiseido and Kose, the company was late in getting on e-commerce platforms and tapping travel retail. The decline in domestic revenue in FY17 served as an eye-opener for the company and culminated in changes in strategy that saw the company trim its cosmetic line and look aggressively at other Asian markets for growth. As the company continues its overhaul through…


Kao Corp: Takes a Gamble With Leaner Cosmetic Line & Alternative Sales Channels To Further Growth

<h2><strong>Overview</strong></h2>
<p><a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/5718" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:5718:1">Shiseido Co Ltd (4911 JP)</a> is a 145-year-old Japanese company that is estimated to be the fifth largest cosmetics company in the world. Spurred on by strong demand for its products and growing profitability margins, the company’s stock price has surged 2.3x in the last year alone. As part of its mid-term plan, Shiseido aims to grow its topline to JPY 1.2tn by 2020, or a CAGR of 7.5%.</p>
<p>Shiseido currently has a presence in 120 countries including R&amp;D bases in 7 and manufacturing plants in…</p>

Overview
Shiseido Co Ltd (4911 JP) is a 145-year-old Japanese company that is estimated to be the fifth largest cosmetics company in the world. Spurred on by strong demand for its products and growing profitability margins, the company’s stock price has surged 2.3x in the last year alone. As part of its mid-term plan, Shiseido aims to grow its topline to JPY 1.2tn by 2020, or a CAGR of 7.5%.
Shiseido currently has a presence in 120 countries including R&amp;D bases in 7 and manufacturing plants in…

Shiseido: Growth Strategy Focused on East Asian Travellers Liable to Backfire

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>Actionable Charts from Smart Karma’s Most-Searched Tickers.</p><p>We ran through a list of the most frequently searched tickers on the SmartKarma platform using the Discovery Tool.  </p><p>See the attached report for a complete list of our recommendations from this list.</p>

Actionable Charts from Smart Karma’s Most-Searched Tickers.We ran through a list of the most frequently searched tickers on the SmartKarma platform using the Discovery Tool.  See the attached report for a complete list of our recommendations from this list.

Asean-focused. Ex-Head of Thai Research

Athaporn Arayasantiparb, CFA

Asean (Thailand) Focused Independent Research

M Corp Review

M Corp is led by Athaporn Arayasantiparb who served as Head of Research for UOB and ANZ in Thailand and was an award-winning telecoms analyst at UBS in 2010 (AsiaMoney Thailand category) and Regional Strategist for DMG in Singapore. Prior to that, he also served as Kasikornbank credit analyst and scholar. He has a total work experience of 17 years, of which 14 were in research and 4 in research management roles. He started his career as an engineer for PTT and currently manages family investments. He holds an MBA from Stern (NYU) and CFA Charter since 2006. Apart from IPO Radar, which focuses on future listings, MCorp Review also provides six on-going thematic series ranked by frequency in descending order, namely: 1) Silicon Stories (technology) 2) Sathorn Series (financial services) 3) Thai-Coons (billionaire origin stories) 4) Reality Check (data-driven, investigative) 5) Thai Media Spotlight; and 6) Thai Macro Watch (global market drivers).

Thematic (Sector/Industry)

<p>As mentioned earlier in <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/the-greying-of-thailand" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="insights:6048">The Greying of Thailand</a>, Thailand's low population growth (0.8%) can be attributed to many reasons such as gender imbalance and an increasing trend of city people living as singles (<em>In upcountry Thailand, the household size of 5-7 is not uncommon), </em>but this presents both a problem and opportunity. On one hand, expecting high sales volume can be a problem in this product niche, simply because there aren't many customers...ie kids, as a demographic group compared to...say…</p>

As mentioned earlier in The Greying of Thailand, Thailand's low population growth (0.8%) can be attributed to many reasons such as gender imbalance and an increasing trend of city people living as singles (In upcountry Thailand, the household size of 5-7 is not uncommon), but this presents both a problem and opportunity. On one hand, expecting high sales volume can be a problem in this product niche, simply because there aren't many customers...ie kids, as a demographic group compared to...say…

<p>In our earlier report, we covered <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/27159" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:27159:1">MTG Co Ltd (7806 JP)</a> 's product and geographic segments and arrived at an initial conclusion that the company’s current business model was not a sustainable one in the long-run. In this report, we will focus on the company’s growth prospects for the next two years and its relative valuation based on the offer price range. </p>
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<h2><strong>We Would Subscribe</strong></h2>
<p>Based on our analysis, we think the company could see upside risk in the days' post issue. MTG's brands offer niche…</p>
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In our earlier report, we covered MTG Co Ltd (7806 JP) 's product and geographic segments and arrived at an initial conclusion that the company’s current business model was not a sustainable one in the long-run. In this report, we will focus on the company’s growth prospects for the next two years and its relative valuation based on the offer price range. 

We Would Subscribe
Based on our analysis, we think the company could see upside risk in the days' post issue. MTG's brands offer niche…


MTG IPO Preview II: Powered By Celebrities

Japan

UNICHARM CORPORATION is a manufacturer of sanitary napkins and baby products. Products include infant & adult diapers, household cleaning wipes, and feminine hygienic products.  The Company also produces pet food and pet toiletries as well as operates educational and finance businesses.

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Unicharm Corp (8113 JP)

Kao Corp: Takes a Gamble With Leaner Cosmetic Line & Alternative Sales Channels To Further Growth

Kao Corp (4452 JP) is at a crossroads where it must look to alternate channels and regions to continue its growth. Unlike peers like Shiseido and...

Chacko Jacob

Shiseido: Growth Strategy Focused on East Asian Travellers Liable to Backfire

Overview Shiseido Co Ltd (4911 JP) is a 145-year-old Japanese company that is estimated to be the fifth largest cosmetics company in the world....

Chacko Jacob

Popular Stocks, Attractive Charts

Actionable Charts from Smart Karma’s Most-Searched Tickers.We ran through a list of the most frequently searched tickers on the SmartKarma platform...

Vermilion Research

Kid's Stuff in Thai Equities

As mentioned earlier in The Greying of Thailand, Thailand's low population growth (0.8%) can be attributed to many reasons such as gender imbalance...

Athaporn Arayasantiparb, CFA

MTG IPO Preview II: Powered By Celebrities

In our earlier report, we covered MTG Co Ltd (7806 JP) 's product and geographic segments and arrived at an initial conclusion that the company’s...

Chacko Jacob

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