The Largest Japanese Companies By Revenue 2012

Posted by David Hunkar on 10 May 2013, 7:35 pm

The largest Japanese firms by revenues from the Fortune Global 500 list for 2012 are listed below:

Country Rank	Company	Global Rank	City	Revenues($ millions)
1	Toyota Motor	10	Toyota	235,364
2	Japan Post Holdings	13	Tokyo	211,019
3	Nippon Telegraph & Telephone	29	Tokyo	133,077
4	Hitachi	38	Tokyo	122,419
5	JX Holdings	41	Tokyo	119,258
6	Nissan Motor	42	Yokohama	119,166
7	Honda Motor	64	Tokyo	100,664
8	Panasonic	66	Osaka	99,373
9	Nippon Life Insurance	74	Osaka	90,783
10	Sony	87	Tokyo	82,237
11	Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance	96	Tokyo	77,463
12	Toshiba	97	Tokyo	77,261
13	Mitsubishi	115	Tokyo	70,492
14	Tokyo Electric Power	127	Tokyo	67,751
15	Mitsui	132	Tokyo	66,512
16	AEON	134	Chiba	65,989
17	Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group	144	Tokyo	62,706
18	Dai-ichi Life Insurance	145	Tokyo	62,462
19	Seven & I Holdings	151	Tokyo	60,668
20	Fujitsu	166	Tokyo	56,582
21	Marubeni	168	Tokyo	55,604
22	Itochu	172	Osaka	54,093
23	Nippon Steel	180	Tokyo	51,812
24	Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group	191	Tokyo	49,967
25	Idemitsu Kosan	199	Tokyo	48,828
26	MS&AD Insurance Group Holdings	209	Tokyo	47,684
27	Mitsubishi Electric	214	Tokyo	46,094
28	KDDI	220	Tokyo	45,241
29	Canon	224	Tokyo	44,631
30	Tokio Marine Holdings	236	Tokyo	43,264
31	Sumitomo Life Insurance	239	Osaka	43,086
32	Sumitomo	247	Tokyo	41,301
33	Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings	252	Tokyo	40,632
34	Softbank	253	Tokyo	40,559
35	JFE Holdings	256	Tokyo	40,104
36	Denso	259	Kariya	39,954
37	NEC	271	Tokyo	38,462
38	Bridgestone	276	Tokyo	37,943
39	Mitsubishi Heavy Industries	299	Tokyo	35,727
40	Kansai Electric Power	301	Osaka	35,607
41	NKSJ Holdings	306	Tokyo	35,343
42	Medipal Holdings	310	Tokyo	34,832
43	Mizuho Financial Group	316	Tokyo	34,394
44	Cosmo Oil	329	Tokyo	33,672
45	East Japan Railway	347	Tokyo	32,070
46	Suzuki Motor	350	Hamamatsu	31,817
47	Sharp	354	Osaka	31,104
48	Chubu Electric Power	356	Nagoya	31,020
49	Alfresa Holdings	371	Tokyo	29,551
50	Aisin Seiki	379	Kariya	29,183
51	Showa Shell Sekiyu	389	Tokyo	28,497
52	Fujifilm Holdings	400	Tokyo	27,804
53	T&D Holdings	413	Tokyo	26,649
54	Maruhan	418	Kyoto	26,333
55	Sumitomo Electric Industries	422	Osaka	26,082
56	Japan Tobacco	427	Tokyo	25,759
57	Mazda Motor	428	Hiroshima	25,749
58	Komatsu	436	Tokyo	25,099
59	Sumitomo Chemical	446	Tokyo	24,670
60	Ricoh	461	Tokyo	24,108
61	Kobe Steel	467	Kobe	23,617
62	Suzuken	469	Nagoya	23,556
63	Nomura Holdings	471	Tokyo	23,453
64	Daiwa House Industry	472	Osaka	23,415
65	Yamada Denki	477	Takasaki	23,246
66	Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha	481	Tokyo	22,896
67	Mitsubishi Motors	482	Tokyo	22,890
68	Tokyo Gas	496	Tokyo	22,218

Source: Fortune Global 500, Fortune

Related ETF:

iShares MSCI Japan Index ETF (EWJ)

Disclosure: No Positions

Under-Performing Brazilian Stocks Look Attractive Now

Posted by David Hunkar on 9 May 2013, 6:59 am

Brazilian stocks have been laggards so far this year. Compared the S&P 500’s rise of 14.0% as of May 7th the Bovespa is down 7.7%. Investors’ attraction towards Brazil has waned in the past few years due mainly due to political reasons. As an emerging market with plenty of growth potential Brazilian stocks look attractive at current levels. While mining and commodity-based stocks can be avoided other sectors such as construction, financial services, retail, consumer goods, etc. can be considered for investment. A recent article in The Wall Street Journal noted the positive views of some investors on Brazil. From the article:

Shares of the 64 companies that compose the Ibovespa index are trading at roughly 11 times earnings, compared with a price/earnings ratio of about nine at the start of 2012.

Some investors point out that the poor performance of Brazil’s main stock index masks healthy demand for exposure to specific sectors, namely retailing and financial services. Even with slow growth, Brazil’s unemployment rate is near a record low and salaries have surged in past months.

The following three charts shows some of the positive factors of the Brazilian economy:

Click to enlarge

Source: Economic Chart Pack, April 2013, Banco Central Do Brasil.

In short, a strong case be made for Brazil based on the factors such as the three shown above. The manufacturing sector of the economy recently had the highest ever domestic auto production showing the demand for local sales and rising exports.

Ten Brazilian companies trading on the US markets are listed below for consideration:

1.Company: Itau Unibanco Holding SA (ITUB)
Current Dividend Yield: 3.29%
Sector: Banking

2.Company: SABESP (SBS)
Current Dividend Yield: 2.27%
Sector: Water Utilities

3.Company: Banco Bradesco SA (BBD)
Current Dividend Yield: 3.04%
Sector: Banking

4.Company: Ultrapar Participacoes SA (UGP)
Current Dividend Yield: 2.18%
Sector: Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels

5.Company: Embraer SA (ERJ)
Current Dividend Yield: 1.16%
Sector: Aerospace & Defense

6.Company: Braskem SA (BAK)
Current Dividend Yield: 3.35%
Sector: Chemicals

7.Company: Light SA (LGSXY)
Current Dividend Yield: 14.48%
Sector: Electric Utilities

8.Company: Banco do Brasil SA (BDORY)
Current Dividend Yield: 6.66%
Sector: Banking

9.Company: Companhia Energetica de Minas Gerais Cemig (CIG)
Current Dividend Yield: 11.40%
Sector: Electric Utilities

10.Company: Cielo SA (CIOXY)
Current Dividend Yield: 3.61%
Sector: IT Services

Note: Dividend yields noted are as of May 8, 2013. Data is known to be accurate from sources used.Please use your own due diligence before making any investment decisions.

Disclosure: Long ITUB, BBD

Are Australian Banks In Bubble Territory?

Posted by David Hunkar on 7 May 2013, 5:17 am

Australian bank stocks are indeed in bubble territory according to an analyst and an investment industry executive. An article in the Australian Financial Review last week quoted Emilio Gonzalez, chief executive of BT Investment Management as saying that Australian banks may face corrections due to soaring asset prices.

Here is an UBS analyst’s take on Aussie banks:

In a research note titled Welcome to the great bank bubble of 2013 sent on Wednesday, UBS analyst Jonathan Mott said banks were low growth companies, heavily exposed to a housing market downturn and unemployment.

“As with all asset bubbles, they can go higher and for longer than many expect,” Mr Mott said. “As Chuck Prince [former chief executive of Citigroup] famously said ‘As long as the music is playing, you’ve got to get up and dance’. All we can say is buyer beware.”

It was “fundamentally flawed” for investors chasing yield to compare dividends from more risky bank stocks to lower rates on much safer term deposits and government bonds, he said.

The share prices of Australia’s banks have reached a record high at an average of 14.9 times earnings, despite subdued demand for lending.

The market capitalisation of Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Westpac have surpassed $100 billion and the big four are ranked among the world’s top-11 by market capitalisation.

Click to enlarge

Quantitative easing by central banks around the world, where their bond buying has pushed global interest rates down, have led investors to select alternative assets offering higher yields.

Combined with falling term-deposit rates and the tax advantage of franking credits in Australia, investors have jumped into banks because of their track record of producing excellent earnings, high dividends, sound management and prudent regulatory structure. Bad debts remain benign, housing markets stable and the unemployment rate of 5.6 per cent is relatively low although edging up slowly.

Australia is also leveraged to the fastest growing region in the world, Asia.

Source: Banks enter bubble zone: analysts, Australian Financial Review

Hat Tip: The great Aussie bank share price bubble, FT Alphaville

Related ETFs and Stocks:

iShares MSCI Australia EFT (EWA)
Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ANZBY)
Westpac Banking Corp (WBK)
National Australia Bank Ltd (NABZY)
Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CMWAY)

Disclosure: No Positions

The Largest Canadian Companies By Revenue 2012

Posted by David Hunkar on 6 May 2013, 7:00 pm

The largest Canadian firms by revenues from the Fortune Global 500 list for 2012 are listed below:

Country Rank	Company	Global Rank	City	Revenues($ millions)
1	Manulife Financial	181	Toronto, Ontario	51,548
2	Suncor Energy	255	Calgary, Alberta	40,231
3	Royal Bank of Canada	282	Toronto, Ontario	37,233
4	Power Corp. of Canada	335	Montreal, Quebec	33,277
5	George Weston	338	Toronto, Ontario	32,735
6	Magna International	385	Aurora, Ontario	28,748
7	Toronto-Dominion Bank	403	Toronto, Ontario	27,590
8	Bank of Nova Scotia	409	Toronto, Ontario	27,091
9	Onex	419	Toronto, Ontario	26,168
10	Husky Energy	466	Calgary, Alberta	23,623
11	Sun Life Financial	485	Toronto, Ontario	22,831

Source: Fortune Global 500, Fortune

Comparing The Equity Market Performance Of Canada And Mexico

Posted by David Hunkar on 6 May 2013, 5:33 am

Investing in emerging stocks can yield higher returns than developed stocks. As the name implies, companies in emerging countries have plenty of room for growth whereas companies in the developed world mostly operate in a saturated market. Not all developed companies can be successful by moving into emerging markets. In fact, only some of the developed companies are successful in expanding overseas especially in developing countries.

In this post, let us take a quick look at the performance of Canada and Mexico using the country specific ETF as a proxy for the two equity markets of these countries. In all the three periods shown below, the Mexican ETF easily beat the Canadian fund. Over the five year and long term the difference in returns is substantial.

1. 1-year return of Canada vs. Mexico ETF:

Click to enlarge