In today’s briefing:
- Curator’s Cut: Japan’s Defense Drive, Asia’s Vision Opportunities & US Diagnostics Picks
- Shorting NOF (4403) Just Now Is Probably a Very Bad Idea
- IHI (7013 JP): SAR Satellite Deal Adds to Takaichi Trade
- China Healthcare Weekly (Oct.26) – Turning Point of Medical Device, Innovent-Takeda Deal Makes Sense
- Bell Financial Group Ltd – ECM and brokerage conditions remain strong
- Pegasystems: Application Modernization with AI & Cloud Services Are Upping The Ante!
- Amazon.com Inc – Amazon’s Quiet Crisis: What Anthropic’s Defection Could Mean for AWS
- Vertiv Is Powering the AI Revolution—Can Its NVIDIA Collaboration Change the Game?
- Moody’s Corporation: An Insight Into The Moody’s Analytics Expansion and Recurring Revenue Diversification!
- From Utility to Growth: Re‑rating Potential at Japan Exchange Group (8697.T)
Curator’s Cut: Japan’s Defense Drive, Asia’s Vision Opportunities & US Diagnostics Picks
- Welcome to Curator’s Cut — a fortnightly roundup of standout themes from the 1,000+ insights shared on Smartkarma. After a brief one-issue break, we’re back with fresh perspectives.
- In this cut, we explore Japan’s renewed defense ambitions, Asia’s eyewear evolution, and US diagnostics’ next frontiers.
- Want to dig deeper? Comment or message with the themes you’d like to see highlighted next
Shorting NOF (4403) Just Now Is Probably a Very Bad Idea
- Japan’s defense budget may be set to surge by about 50%, making NOF’s ammunition business a hot theme.
- Be careful though. NOF’s munitions segment faces production limits and slow capacity expansion, capping near-term profit growth even with new defense spending.
- We think NOF is overvalued, even as we acknowledge consensus forecasts are probably too low. But shorting now would probably just be fighting the tape. Save this idea for later.
IHI (7013 JP): SAR Satellite Deal Adds to Takaichi Trade
- New Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi aims to raise defense spending to 2% of GDP this fiscal year, two years ahead of the original schedule.
- Takaichi also wants to accelerate investment in advanced defense technologies. IHI, which recently signed an agreement with ICEYE to build earth observations satellites, should be among the beneficiaries.
- IHI’s sales and profit comparisons should turn positive during FY Mar-26. A 7-for-1 stock split effective October 1, 2025, makes the shares more attractive to retail investors.
China Healthcare Weekly (Oct.26) – Turning Point of Medical Device, Innovent-Takeda Deal Makes Sense
- Whether it is big pharmaceutical company or Biopharma that currently generates revenue/profits mainly through one or two products, they may not be able to “defend” successfully in long term.
- The logic for innovative medical device is similar to innovative drugs – It takes 1-2 years from the turning point of policies to the turning point of fundamentals.
- The Innovent-Takeda deal is logical. However, stock price performance of Innovent was disappointing, which is due to the “turning point” of HK biotech sector.The current decline is far from over.
Bell Financial Group Ltd – ECM and brokerage conditions remain strong
- Bell Financial Group Ltd (ASX:BFG) is a diversified provider of financial products and software solutions within, and increasingly outside, its traditional full-service stockbroking business.
- The latest ASX ECM data suggests raisings in the September quarter were 8% above the previous corresponding period (pcp) and 45% above the June 2025 quarter.
- In terms of market share, the latest Dealogic data suggests Bell Potter has held share relative to the pcp, while raising US$0.75b (A$1.2b) against US$0.63b (A$1.0b) year to date October 2025 (+20%).
Pegasystems: Application Modernization with AI & Cloud Services Are Upping The Ante!
- Pegasystems’ third-quarter financial results from 2025 highlight both strengths and challenges for the company.
- The reported results underline Pegasystems’ ability to execute its cloud strategy and leverage artificial intelligence innovations, which have been key growth drivers.
- The company’s focus on AI-driven process automation and orchestration platforms remains a cornerstone of its strategy, which is increasingly appealing to financial services and other regulated industries due to its approach of ensuring predictable workflows.
Amazon.com Inc – Amazon’s Quiet Crisis: What Anthropic’s Defection Could Mean for AWS
- Amazon’s long-term AI ambitions are being tested as its $8 billion bet on Anthropic faces a potential turning point.
- Recent reports reveal that Anthropic, the AI startup behind the Claude language model and currently enjoying a $5 billion annualized revenue run rate, is in talks with Alphabet’s Google for a cloud-computing deal potentially worth tens of billions of dollars.
- This shift, if finalized, could grant Anthropic access to Google’s advanced AI chips, a key competitive asset as workloads grow increasingly complex.
Vertiv Is Powering the AI Revolution—Can Its NVIDIA Collaboration Change the Game?
- Vertiv Corporation reported robust financial performance for the third quarter of 2025, indicating strong growth across several metrics.
- The company reported an adjusted diluted earnings per share (EPS) of $1.24, a 63% increase year-over-year, largely driven by enhanced operating profit margins, which stood at 22.3%, up from the previous year.
- Organic net sales grew 28%, with the Americas contributing a substantial 43%, and the AsiaPacific (APAC) region also showing a strong performance with a 21% increase.
Moody’s Corporation: An Insight Into The Moody’s Analytics Expansion and Recurring Revenue Diversification!
- Moody’s Corporation reported a strong financial performance in its third-quarter results for 2025, achieving a record revenue of over $2 billion, marking an 11% increase from the previous year.
- The corporation has also raised full-year guidance across nearly all metrics, demonstrating considerable growth and operational leverage.
- The adjusted operating margin stood at 53%, a 500-basis point improvement from the previous year, and adjusted diluted EPS increased by 22% to $3.92, highlighting robust earnings power.
From Utility to Growth: Re‑rating Potential at Japan Exchange Group (8697.T)
- A stock that should benefit from the resumption of Japan’s bull market
- Utility type stock poised to rerate as a growth narrative starts
- The stock has recently broken out of its 18 month downtrend
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