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

Equity Bottom-Up

<p><a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/sony-corp" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:563:1" rel="noopener">Sony Corp (6758 JP)</a> has seen an upward shift in ownership among active Global fund managers.  The percentage of funds invested in <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/sony-corp" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:563:1" rel="noopener">Sony Corp (6758 JP)</a>  is at record levels, with weights and overweights continuing to rise. </p><p>Sony is also moving from being an Aggressive Growth play to a stock more appealing to a wider group of Growth, Value and GARP investors.  Our data also shows that this switch has further to run, with many investors with previous knowledge and exposure to <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/sony-corp" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:563:1" rel="noopener">Sony Corp (6758 JP)</a> remaining on the sidelines, or at lower levels of exposure, for now. </p><p>For this reason, we would expect ownership among Global investors to be well supported, which, given the relationship between fund ownership and price, should be supportive of returns going forwards.</p>

Sony Corp (6758 JP) has seen an upward shift in ownership among active Global fund managers.  The percentage of funds invested in Sony Corp (6758 JP)  is at record levels, with weights and overweights continuing to rise. Sony is also moving from being an Aggressive Growth play to a stock more appealing to a wider group of Growth, Value and GARP investors.  Our data also shows that this switch has further to run, with many investors with previous knowledge and exposure to Sony Corp (6758 JP) remaining on the sidelines, or at lower levels of exposure, for now. For this reason, we would expect ownership among Global investors to be well supported, which, given the relationship between fund ownership and price, should be supportive of returns going forwards.

Sony Corp:  Momentum Strong as Global Funds Continue to Add.

Pan-Asia Catalysts/Events, Quiddity Advisors

Travis Lundy

Pan-Asia Catalysts/Events

Quiddity Advisors

Quantitative Analysis

<p>Long-time Japan strategist Jonathan Allum, most recently of SMBC Nikko, put a guest post titled <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/a97cf336-518d-45dd-8092-ec0363c18725" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>Takeaways from 30 years of Covering the Japanese Market</em></a> in the Financial Times on 26 November (Thanksgiving) which is well worth a read.</p><p>He points out that foreign investors in 2020 are likely going to be net dis-investors in Japan for the fourth year in five, fifth year in six, and increasing the net selldown which has occurred since the monster year in 2013. </p><section class="figure"><section class="figure"><section class="figure"><figure class="editor-figure mceNonEditable"><img src="https://static-prod.smartkarma.com/images/media/000/174/956/original/Screenshot%202020-11-29%20at%203.07.23%20PM.png?1606633655" class="editor-image img-responsive" data-smartkarma-image-id="174956"></figure></section><p>This data is compiled from the weekly data which shows each investor category. On a net basis across all investor categories, it will be flat because while it shows buybacks on market, crediting the "Business Corporations" category, it does not show the data of investors selling into Tender Offers or the data of investors buying from IPOs.</p></section><p>Of course, the data is not that clean because investing doesn't always happen according to calendar year decisions. </p>
<section class="figure"><figure class="editor-figure mceNonEditable"><img src="https://static-prod.smartkarma.com/images/media/000/174/969/original/Screenshot%202020-11-29%20at%203.40.57%20PM.png?1606635676" class="editor-image img-responsive" data-smartkarma-image-id="174969"></figure></section><p>It just so happens that the last two really big selloffs in dollar terms (both exceeding ¥6trln on a rolling 52wk basis) did not happen to see start and end points coincide with those of the Gregorian calendar.</p>
<p>There has been an interesting confluence of "lack of participation in the market" this year. After lifting ETF buys in March 2020, the BOJ has slowed down its ETF buying considerably in the past six months (the current 6-month total is near the lower end of the range seen in the past four years), buybacks are down this year as companies slowed their activity in the face of covid-19-induced uncertainty, and foreigners are net sellers. </p>
<p>Of course Japanese insurers are on the verge of extending what will be a 12-year streak of net sells to a 13th year, and it looks like Japanese banks will be extending their net selling to a 14th year in a row. Trust Banks will be net buyers for the sixth year in seven this year, but for at least the fourth year in a row it will be less than the net buying of ETFs by the BOJ so ex-BOJ trust banks will have been net sellers for several years. </p>
<p>Business corporations are up ¥1.335trln year-to-date through the 20th of November, and will almost certainly extend their streak to ten years on the buy side. The interesting net flow this year is the "Proprietary" flow at brokers. This is now positive for ten years in a row, and there are particular reasons for this, as discussed below.</p>
<p>Because of the noise around recent articles about the BOJ and foreign activity, I decided to once again dust off the long-term analytics on Japan investor class flows, and present them here. Because flows net off to close to zero (i.e. there are a certain number of shares, and if some investor class is a net seller, other investor classes must be net buyer(s)), deriving a model for behavior is useful.  Long ago, in roles in fixed income and equity derivatives strategy, I built models of net foreign buying, and they uniformly showed that foreign investors chase/push/drive performance. My final model is a multi-input model which provides a simple combination of two factors they chase.</p>
<p>This insight discusses those behavior models, investor class flow dynamics, cycles, and trends and pressures near-term.</p>
<p>The combination of the investor class flows, and the model which drives net foreign activity, is interesting. I think it helps because the top-down aspect matters for understanding allocation flow.</p>
<p>Read on for the nitty gritty (as usual, we start with Conclusions First).</p></section>

Long-time Japan strategist Jonathan Allum, most recently of SMBC Nikko, put a guest post titled Takeaways from 30 years of Covering the Japanese Market in the Financial Times on 26 November (Thanksgiving) which is well worth a read.He points out that foreign investors in 2020 are likely going to be net dis-investors in Japan for the fourth year in five, fifth year in six, and increasing the net selldown which has occurred since the monster year in 2013. This data is compiled from the weekly data which shows each investor category. On a net basis across all investor categories, it will be flat because while it shows buybacks on market, crediting the "Business Corporations" category, it does not show the data of investors selling into Tender Offers or the data of investors buying from IPOs.Of course, the data is not that clean because investing doesn't always happen according to calendar year decisions. 
It just so happens that the last two really big selloffs in dollar terms (both exceeding ¥6trln on a rolling 52wk basis) did not happen to see start and end points coincide with those of the Gregorian calendar.
There has been an interesting confluence of "lack of participation in the market" this year. After lifting ETF buys in March 2020, the BOJ has slowed down its ETF buying considerably in the past six months (the current 6-month total is near the lower end of the range seen in the past four years), buybacks are down this year as companies slowed their activity in the face of covid-19-induced uncertainty, and foreigners are net sellers. 
Of course Japanese insurers are on the verge of extending what will be a 12-year streak of net sells to a 13th year, and it looks like Japanese banks will be extending their net selling to a 14th year in a row. Trust Banks will be net buyers for the sixth year in seven this year, but for at least the fourth year in a row it will be less than the net buying of ETFs by the BOJ so ex-BOJ trust banks will have been net sellers for several years. 
Business corporations are up ¥1.335trln year-to-date through the 20th of November, and will almost certainly extend their streak to ten years on the buy side. The interesting net flow this year is the "Proprietary" flow at brokers. This is now positive for ten years in a row, and there are particular reasons for this, as discussed below.
Because of the noise around recent articles about the BOJ and foreign activity, I decided to once again dust off the long-term analytics on Japan investor class flows, and present them here. Because flows net off to close to zero (i.e. there are a certain number of shares, and if some investor class is a net seller, other investor classes must be net buyer(s)), deriving a model for behavior is useful.  Long ago, in roles in fixed income and equity derivatives strategy, I built models of net foreign buying, and they uniformly showed that foreign investors chase/push/drive performance. My final model is a multi-input model which provides a simple combination of two factors they chase.
This insight discusses those behavior models, investor class flow dynamics, cycles, and trends and pressures near-term.
The combination of the investor class flows, and the model which drives net foreign activity, is interesting. I think it helps because the top-down aspect matters for understanding allocation flow.
Read on for the nitty gritty (as usual, we start with Conclusions First).

JAPAN FLOW:  Foreign Investor Flows Still Matter (Redux, Reduxed) - Playing Catchup

'Quantamental' Japan Specialist, LightStream Research

Campbell Gunn

'Quantamental' Japan Specialist

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.

Thematic (Sector/Industry)

<section class="figure"><figure class="editor-figure mceNonEditable"><img src="https://static-prod.smartkarma.com/images/media/000/175/082/original/2020-11-30_05-30-46.png?1606681863" class="editor-image img-responsive" data-smartkarma-image-id="175082"></figure></section><div class="content-caption">Source for all charts &amp; tables: Japan Analytics </div><p><strong>FOUR QUADRANTS</strong> - By combining our two scoring methodologies - the Relative Price Score (RPS) and the Results &amp; Revision Score (RRS), we can assign companies into four quadrants:-</p><ul style="list-style-type: disc;">
<li>
<strong>CONTRARIAN BUYS </strong>- Companies with low Results &amp; Revision and Relative Price Scores</li>
<li>
<strong>CONTRARIAN SELLS</strong> - Companies with high Results &amp; Revision and Relative Price Scores</li>
<li>
<strong>TURNAROUNDS</strong> - Companies with high Results &amp; Revision Scores &amp; low Relative Price Scores</li>
<li>
<strong>EX-GROWTH</strong> - Companies with low Results &amp; Revision Scores &amp; high Relative Price Scores</li>
</ul><p>In the two Contrarian quadrants and especially for Contrarian Sells, companies can remain outliers for extended periods; however profitable Contrarian Sells in the last year have been <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/taiyo-nippon-sanso-corp" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:15756:1" rel="noopener">Nippon Sanso (4091 JP)</a> and <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/sekisui-house-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:4508:1" rel="noopener">Sekisui House (1928 JP)</a>. </p><section class="figure"><figure class="editor-figure mceNonEditable"><img src="https://static-prod.smartkarma.com/images/media/000/174/185/original/2020-11-26_08-13-23.png?1606346017" class="editor-image img-responsive" data-smartkarma-image-id="174185"></figure></section><section class="figure"><figure class="editor-figure mceNonEditable"><img src="https://static-prod.smartkarma.com/images/media/000/174/187/original/2020-11-26_08-18-21.png?1606346313" class="editor-image img-responsive" data-smartkarma-image-id="174187"></figure></section><p><strong><a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/7b61jl02dh0pzno/2020-11-25_12-43-55.png?dl=0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CONTRARIAN SELLS</a></strong>- In the<strong> DETAIL</strong> below, we shall review the current 'crop' of Contrarian Sells for potential opportunities. Subsequent Insights in this mini-series will look at the Turnarounds and Ex-Growth quadrants before concluding with one '2021 High Conviction' recommendation. The first Insight in the Series can be found here - <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/japan-four-quadrants-contrarian-buys" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="insights:45688" rel="noopener">Contrarian Buys</a>.</p>

Source for all charts &amp; tables: Japan Analytics FOUR QUADRANTS - By combining our two scoring methodologies - the Relative Price Score (RPS) and the Results &amp; Revision Score (RRS), we can assign companies into four quadrants:-

CONTRARIAN BUYS - Companies with low Results &amp; Revision and Relative Price Scores

CONTRARIAN SELLS - Companies with high Results &amp; Revision and Relative Price Scores

TURNAROUNDS - Companies with high Results &amp; Revision Scores &amp; low Relative Price Scores

EX-GROWTH - Companies with low Results &amp; Revision Scores &amp; high Relative Price Scores
In the two Contrarian quadrants and especially for Contrarian Sells, companies can remain outliers for extended periods; however profitable Contrarian Sells in the last year have been Nippon Sanso (4091 JP) and Sekisui House (1928 JP). CONTRARIAN SELLS- In the DETAIL below, we shall review the current 'crop' of Contrarian Sells for potential opportunities. Subsequent Insights in this mini-series will look at the Turnarounds and Ex-Growth quadrants before concluding with one '2021 High Conviction' recommendation. The first Insight in the Series can be found here - Contrarian Buys.

🇯🇵 JAPAN • Four Quadrants - Contrarian Sells

Japan/Asia Long-Short, LightStream Research

Mio Kato

Japan/Asia Long-Short

<p>We first wrote on Sony in mid-2017 noting that <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/sony-has-got-its-mojo-back-super-slomo-acoustic-surfaces-and-the-world-s-fastest-internet" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sony Has Got Its Mojo Back: Super Slomo, Acoustic Surfaces, and the World’s Fastest Internet</a> as we felt that Kazuo Hirai’s efforts to restore the company’s innovative culture were starting to bear fruit in a lot of niche areas. In the more than three years since, Sony has built on this momentum and is firing on all cylinders moving into the launch of the PS5 which we believe will be a key driver of the company’s long-term value. While this is hardly a non-consensus opinion, we feel the market may not quite appreciate the degree of potential market share gains hinted at by subtle developments and choices on design. We discuss these and the valuation case below.</p>

We first wrote on Sony in mid-2017 noting that Sony Has Got Its Mojo Back: Super Slomo, Acoustic Surfaces, and the World’s Fastest Internet as we felt that Kazuo Hirai’s efforts to restore the company’s innovative culture were starting to bear fruit in a lot of niche areas. In the more than three years since, Sony has built on this momentum and is firing on all cylinders moving into the launch of the PS5 which we believe will be a key driver of the company’s long-term value. While this is hardly a non-consensus opinion, we feel the market may not quite appreciate the degree of potential market share gains hinted at by subtle developments and choices on design. We discuss these and the valuation case below.

2021 High Conviction – Sony’s Year of the PS5

<p>As with other FA names, Keyence benefitted from strong demand from China in 2Q which propelled a YoY increase in overseas revenue even as the domestic market dropped almost 20%. Nevertheless, rates of decline the US and Europe were not as steep in 2Q and the company’s earnings call also suggested a positive outlook</p>

As with other FA names, Keyence benefitted from strong demand from China in 2Q which propelled a YoY increase in overseas revenue even as the domestic market dropped almost 20%. Nevertheless, rates of decline the US and Europe were not as steep in 2Q and the company’s earnings call also suggested a positive outlook

Japan

KEYENCE CORPORATION develops, manufactures, and sells sensors and measuring instruments used for factory automation (FA) and high technology hobby products. The Company's products include fiber optic sensors, photoelectric sensors, programmable logic controllers (PLC), laser scan micrometers, bar code readers, and radio-controlled model cars.

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Keyence Corp (6861 JP)

Sony Corp: Momentum Strong as Global Funds Continue to Add.

Sony Corp (6758 JP) has seen an upward shift in ownership among active Global fund managers, but is far from over owned...

Steven Holden

JAPAN FLOW: Foreign Investor Flows Still Matter (Redux, Reduxed) - Playing Catchup

The Japanese market has unusual flow cyclicality. Foreigners take price. They have been net sellers. They buy when USD-denom TOPIX outperforms....

Travis Lundy

🇯🇵 JAPAN • Four Quadrants - Contrarian Sells

CONTRARIAN SELLS - In the DETAIL below, we shall review the current 'crop' of Contrarian Sells for potential opportunities.

Campbell Gunn

2021 High Conviction – Sony’s Year of the PS5

Sony is a key name investors should be focusing on in 2021 as we believe the company has outlined an excellent path to ensuring PS5 dominance and...

Mio Kato

Keyence – Recovery Inbound

China drove an improvement in Keyence's 2Q results just like its competitors. We continue to prefer the name vs. peers but that does not mean the...

Mio Kato

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